What, no reviews for Bookmakers? This restaurant in the Holiday Inn here on Broadway has been open for years. I'm surprised there's no reviews. Anyhow....
My parents have had dinner here a few times before, but my kids and I had our first meal here the other night. We came with my folks. We got there at 6pm, and the entire restaurant (which is quite large and lovely) was empty, save for one couple at a table against a far wall. The place was heavily air conditioned and my parents, who are older, asked the hostess, if possible, to turn down the AC. She never did. We got a lovely table by the window. It was strange to essentially have this large, nice restaurant all to ourselves.
Mom and I immediately asked for martinis on the rocks. Soon after, we all placed our dinner orders. The bread came out; it was delicious! Warm cheese bread, and the tastiest seeded thin crackers I've ever had. Lovely! We waited and waited but no martinis came for us. The restaurant is still empty and the waitress, who was a sweet girl, was nowhere to be found. After 20 minutes, I walked to the bar area across the restaurant and asked what the status was of our martini order. The bartender nodded to the 2 empty classic martini glasses on the counter, saying they were "coming up". I noted we wanted our drinks on the rocks. 5 minutes after, our drinks came, but with lemon and lime twists, not olives as desired. Another few minutes, the olives came. Finally!!! I must say, it took 30 minutes, but the martinis were good.
There were some screw-ups with the meal, too: they brought my dad a small house salad instead of the dinner Caesar he ordered. The mashed potatoes that came with some of our meals were totally cold (tasty, but cold). The strawberry shortcake dessert was very sophomoric, of store-bought sliced Sarah Lee variety. That said, I must say, the beer-battered, fried catfish was the BEST fish my mother and I had had in a long, long time. Even my kids adored it, and they don't tent to like fish. Man, it was amazing! The crab cake appetizers were quite good too (they were more like crab balls, not patties, but I digress...!). My kid who ordered Caesar salad (and actually got one) said it was great. So.....yes, we waited a LONG time for service, despite the empty restaurant, and it was too chilly in the place, and there were lots of glitches. But....most of the food was really quite good. read more