I hate, HATE, giving negative reviews, especially for a restaurant in such a quaint small town, but our experience was extremely poor.
We dined in the restaurant with a reservation on a Saturday night at 8pm. I automatically give sympathy to our server, because she was also tending to a large private party in the back room; and I know how pressing that can be working in the service industry in the past. The restaurant website listed a couple of items we were excited to order, none of which were available. When ordering, we were informed the online menu was outdated. Ok, no biggie, we are flexible.
We ordered the baked Brie to start...out of stock. Market fish, also not available. Ok, they are in an isolated area, understandable. We substituted the baked Brie for the cheese board, which was pretty good, not spectacular, but decent. Next course was supposed to be a Caesar salad.
Cheese board finished and bussed....waiting...5min, 10min, 15min, then the food runner finally arrived with the main courses, braised short rib (him $30) and ribeye (me $60) with side herb potatoes ($8). I must add that the web menu includes sides with entrees but not the new menu presented currently. Not a big deal, we are here for a nice dinner, we are willing to pay extra for great food.
Entree outcome: Husband's braised rib was very cold but "cooked" as in no pink. The meat was obviously precooked and not reheated appropriately, then slathered in a rather bland sauce (which could be a health violation considering it was pork). Ribeye was good, kinda fatty but cooked medium rare as ordered. When inquiring on the Caesar salad, the server stated that the kitchen was "out of Caesar". Geez, really? Could have informed us about 20min ago. But, we didn't complain, just nicely requested to sub for some Brussels, which, were actually amazing and the highlight of the meal.
Since we had plenty of time waiting in between courses, we entertained ourselves by observing the environment. It was obvious our server was doing the best she could. However, there was this guy walking around in faded blue jeans and a sloppily tucked in collared shirt which we could only assume was the manager. Not once in his lazy rounds throughout the floor did he ever check in on the quality of food or service.
In conclusion, I think this restaurant has potential, but, between the grossly inaccurate online menu, the numerous current menu items not available, and the poor meat preparation, it's obvious this place is poorly managed. Hopefully, we caught them on a bad night. However, needless to say, we will be spending our $140 elsewhere next time visiting the west Texas frontier. 2 stars over 1 provided for the tireless effort from our poor, overstretched server and the tasty Brussels. read more