TerraGR: Some Great Dishes, But Overall a Major Disappointment…read more
We drove about two hours to see a show and had pretty high expectations after seeing all the glowing reviews. Unfortunately, TerraGR didn't come close to living up to them.
The Focaccia ($8) was probably the best thing we had all night. It came highly recommended in previous reviews, and I can see why. The pesto, 'nduja butter, and truffle pecorino worked really well together. At $8, it's a great value and an easy recommendation. Definitely a must-have.
The Arancini ($15) were probably our second favorite. Very tasty, with a great gooey cheese center. The Calabrian chili oil, fried basil, hot honey, lemon zest, and ricotta salata all worked well together. Definitely recommend.
The Pesto Casarecce ($25) was a completely different story. We honestly questioned the concept of this dish. The combination of pesto cream, fennel sausage, peas, garlic breadcrumbs, and Parmesan was just baffling to us. We ate maybe half of the dish and simply didn't want any more.
The Scallops ($34) were disappointing as well. I skipped the jalapeño, and while the scallops themselves were cooked very well, the roasted corn, poblano, and chorizo mixture was cold. That was just a strange combination and really took away from the dish. I think it would be significantly better if that component were served warm. I did bite into several pieces of rock-hard chunks of something in the dish. My guess is chorizo which was extremely off-putting. The scallops were also a little too salty. At $34, the price felt excessive for what was served.
The Short Rib Gnocchi ($28) was actually very good. The short rib ragu, potato gnocchi, and truffle pecorino worked really well together. Would recommend.
The Brix soda was another head-scratcher. Just why? We didn't enjoy it at all. I understand it's local but just no.
And then there was the Spiced Cranberry Martini. Unless you like unusual, heavy spice flavors that remind you of Jägermeister, do not order this. It was by far the worst martini I've ever had. I even mentioned to our waitress that I thought it was awful, and there was zero response.
Service itself was fine. We were seated immediately, and the food came out promptly and at good temperatures. Our waitress wasn't particularly memorable, though, and I would have expected at least some acknowledgment when I mentioned how bad the cocktail was.
The parking situation was also an absolute nightmare, which didn't exactly get the evening off to a great start.
Overall, the appetizers were head and shoulders above the mains. The focaccia and arancini were genuinely excellent, and the short rib gnocchi was good. But we would not order the scallops or Pesto Casarecce again.
Sadly, we were very disappointed with the overall experience. We came in with high expectations because of the near-perfect reviews, drove two hours for the evening, and ultimately felt that TerraGR was very overrated. There were definitely some good dishes, but the overall experience simply didn't live up to the hype. We did get to sit outside which was great.