First time at canlon's...we went there with a group of 5 girls for a friends Birthday after hearing good things about this place and also reading the great reviews. We got there pretty early in the evening, 4PM. Nobody was in there other than us 5 girls. As soon as we walked in, it was ABSOLUTLEY freezing in there. I'm not one to be cold. I'm one of those people that is always hot, as a matter of fact. We had to ask them to turn the heat up numerous times, which they did..but it didn't do much. it was like sitting in a freezer. I had suede boots on lined with fur and my toes were completely frozen. no exaggeration.
We decided not to order any apps because dinner came with a soup or salad and potato and veggie. So the server took our orders and she asked us how we like our food (meat) cooked, what kind of potato we would lke,,,etc etc. I then asked her what the veggie was since the menu said it came with a veggie. She said.. it's squash and it comes out for the whole table...(I only asked her this because I realized she didn't ask me about the veggie or even mention it). OK....So, 3 of us decided we would order soup as our apps and pay for them and then have the salad with dinner because we were freezing in there. I had the crab Bisque..eh...it was OK. not too flavorful and pretty bland. Another friend ordered it as well and actually wasn't crazy about it because she thought it was too fishy and sent it back. Foe the main dishes, I ordered the Beef Wellington, the birthday girl ordered NY strip I believe, another friend had the Lamb, our other friend ordered pork chops and 1 friend ordered stuffed shells which came with 2 meatballs and sausage on the side.
Our food came out...My beef wellington was really delicious. So good that I kept telling everyone to taste it and everyone agreed. However, it was DROWNING in some kind of sauce which filled the entire plate. The sauce was actually good but there was a ton of it. It almost looked like it was sitting in the middle of a bowl of soup. I wasn't necessary because the welington was tasty enough. There was also a little garnish of a sliced up strawberry on the edge of the plate, which I thought was strange because strawberry does not go with beef.. but not a big deal. My friend said her NY Strip was really good as were the lamb and the pork chops. The baked potatoes were TINY and overcooked. However, our friend that ordered the stuffed shells was not happy. I could see her face at the first bite that she was not liking the flavor. I asked her what was wrong because of her facial expressions and she said the sauce tasted like tin and she was trying to eat through it. I told her not to do that, to send it ack. She was paying, why should she have to eat through it if it wasn't good? So of course, we all started tasting it and ..she was right, it was not good. it tasted like canned sauce and did not taste like it was made that day. There was also a TON of garlic in it but it seemed like it was the chopped garlic from a jar, not fresh garlic. She actually wound up sending it back. The server came over and she told her she wasn't happy with it and she took it back and gave her a menu to order something else. When the server came back to take her order for a different dish, she decided not to get anything else after all. I felt bad because now my friend didn't have anything for dinner.
I then proceeded to ask the server for the veggie.."for the whole table" - she put this little tiny bowl on the table next to me and it was a portion for one so I assumed it was for me. It was the same bowl they serve the Cup of soup in. She said "that's the vegetable for the whole table" - I said WHAT?? that little thing is supposed to be for 5 of us?? We all started laughing in disbelief. I thought this was a joke. Then she told us"Ok I will bring out another one" - umm ok.. I said, maybe you can bring out 2 or 3 more?? Thanks? Is this for real? My dish was $28 and I cant even have my own side of veggies...seriously? it wound up being the joke of the night all night as we went out afterwards. So, the final is, some of the food was really yummy (the steaks) service was OK, food came out in a timely manner...but we most likely wont be back because of how cold it was in there, the stuffed shell incident and the veggies for the table portion. We have had better overall but, we have also had worse. If I return, I will stick to the Beef Wellington since it was so good. I think I actually had the best dish on the entire table. read more