My wife and I stopped here for an early dinner on a sleepy summer Sunday. We wanted somewhere with outside dining, and there is a nice little off-the-road patio area that looked wonderful.
Walking through the restaurant, it is a beautiful facility. I love places that have different levels and areas instead of one big open room for dining. Very impressive woodwork throughout.
We sat down and ordered. Service was a little slow but I think they were understaffed. That happens, no big deal. Wife ordered a jalapeno tequila drink that was on the menu and she loved it.
For dinner, we ordered a special appetizer (fried zucchini blossoms) and for dinner I had the lemon and garlic grilled half-chicken, my wife had beet spinach salad with pancetta.
This is where things went south. The food was average, at best. The beet spinach salad with pancetta, the beets looked like they came from a can -- each slice was sliced perfectly and they were all the same sized. They had no flavoring, either. The dressing was sparse, at best, and the cheese that was supposed to be on top had zero flavor too. The pancetta was not pancetta, it was bacon. Pancetta is cured, as is bacon, but it is not smoked. One bite and it was clear that the meat had a smoky flavor.
The "lemon garlic chicken" had no flavor. No lemon, no garlic. It tasted like it was baked and then finished on the grill. Actually, I am certain it was baked first, since most of the skin on the chicken had a rubbery texture. There was no lemon or garlic flavor to the chicken, either. A simple marinade before cooking would have given it some flavor. So the meat was amazingly plain flavored, and for $26 for a chicken dish, that's a big miss.
Still, I ate it, because I am a food zamboni. However, my wife only ate about a third of the salad. She really did not like it at all. She mentioned it nicely to the waitress, since it is important to give this feedback to the kicthen. The waitress took away the salad after apologizing for it. Yet, when the bill arrived, the salad was still on the bill. If a person at a restaurant barely picks at something because they are dissatisfied with the quality, automatically it should be comped. No question.
So, as far as a nice setting, this restaurant has it. But execution on the food? Not even close to being worth the money. read more