This is now Smokies Steak House and fashions itself as an American diner/dinner experience. Well, it was an experience. After being seated, the waitress asked if we knew what drinks we wanted, which was difficult since no drinks menu appeared to be in existence. I (foolishly) asked what white wine they had and was told to hang on whilst she looked and came back to tell me it was pinnet somfink. I settled for a coke.
We were left alone for a while to look at the menu and when our waitress came back to take our order, asked me in quite an accusatory tone if I was having a starter (as I'd ordered the main straight off). My other half then decided to order a starter after all and you'd think we'd asked for the world to be presented on a silver platter the way she said oh so you do want starters then whilst glaring at me.
Anyway, the other half's starter arrived a short time later deep fried jalepenos with salad and what I assumed to be a pot of soured cream (this is important to remember for later). They were average and the salad was only partially edible with some of it rather slimey.
The mains arrived chicken fajitas and a sirloin steak. Surprisingly, the steak was very well cooked. It came with mushrooms, tomatoes, chips and a peppercorn sauce that needed a bit more water adding to the packet mix to make it more of a sauce and less of a congealed gloop. The fajitas, also, were very nice. The chicken was well cooked and the peppers still crunchy but again, the spice mix used required more water adding as the sauce was rather floury. It was served with more soggy/slimey salad, two (stone cold) tortilla wraps, a pot of tomato salsa and, weirdly, a pot of mayonnaise.
At this point I asked for a pot of sour cream instead, being relatively certain they should have some as that's what appeared to have been served with the jalapenos earlier. About 5 minutes later our waitress returned and, with a flourish, presented me with a pot of sour cream which the chef had made special. Being slightly concerned that a chef could produce sour cream in 5 minutes (given that the point of sour cream is that it's regular cream that's been fermented) I tried it somewhat tentatively. My sour cream turned out to be regular sweet whipped cream with what I think was bits of black pepper in it. Now, whilst this might be an ingenious accompaniment to a good scone and fresh strawberries, I decided that on the balance of probabilities it wasn't going to go with a chicken fajita and left it to one side.
After we'd finished our mains, our waitress came to clear away our plates and asked so do you want the bill then to which we agreed. Now, either she was incredibly astute and realised there was no way we were going to put ourselves in any further danger by ordering a dessert, or they simply do not have any to choose from, which of course makes the presence of whipped cream in the kitchen all the more confusing.
We paid as quickly as we could and left, collapsing into hysterical laughter the moment we got out through the door. It's a bit of a shame because the food was not too bad (although for the price the quality of the ingredients should be a lot better) and the steak was cooked extremely well. That said, given ours were the only main meals being cooked at the time, if he'd got that wrong I'd have been very worried. The service was so bad it was funny but I get the feeling the girl had been drafted in from the pub that the restaurant is underneath as she really did seem out of her depth and totally unfamiliar with serving customers in a restaurant setting.
All in all, we won't be going back and unless it undergoes a significant improvement in a very short space of time, I don't think the latest incarnation of this particular restaurant will be in business for long. read more
