Prior to a weeknight Cap's game, we came here for dinner...
Upon walking in, the hostess informed us we needed to mask up to walk the 20 feet to the bar, where we took our masks off upon sitting down (unpopular statement warning: on/off wearing of masks makes absolutely no difference, folks! Not to mention, most of the staff had their masks off to chat with each other throughout our stay). We happened to get there during happy hour and decided to try some cocktails to start. Their cocktails are ok, nothing special, but their bartenders feel that because they've been bartenders for 20 years, they're great at making cocktails (this came knowledge after we noticed some interesting and unique spirits and asked how their cocktail program was, they laughed at us for questioning them and told us how great they were because they've been doing it for 20 years), so we decided to pick something from Sasha Petrosky's bartending book, the Champs-Élysées. Our bartender was stumped, but after we provide the recipe, he did a nice job with it.
I will say our bartender was friendly and offered suggestions, some of which we took him up on, like trying their calamari, which he said was "the best in the world!" It came out and looked pretty good, even though it was battered slightly more than we prefer. It's done in a sweet Asian style and the texture of the calamari itself was excellent! The syrupy Asian sauce was just ok, far from the greatest (that would likely be Eddie V's Kung Pao Calamari!). We did enjoy the fresh carrots and sprouts on top, they offered a nice texture and also mixed well with the sauce and helped reduce the sweetness.
We then split a Wedge Salad... Now, if he had told us this was the best Wedge Salad in the world, I would have believed that because this was easily in my top 3! I loved the mix of flavors from the pickled red onions and glazed, smokey bacon and the mild bleu cheese mixed with the base dressing really helped bring this whole dish together - PERFECTLY!
A few bartenders told me that the Chilean Sea Bass was incredible and one of their favs, so I opted for it. My son chose the Colorado Lamb. Since we never got bread, we also asked for bread.
The entrées came out in reasonably quick time (all items ordered came out pretty quick, which was fine since we had plans and couldn't stay very long, but normally, we prefer to take a much slower pace, enjoy cocktails, wine and take our time enjoying food and conversation and this pace would have been much too fast for that). The presentation on that lamb was stunning! It was tender and very flavorful! My Sea Bass on the other hand was the worst I've ever had! It was very salty and looked/tasted like they simply sprinkled season salt on top, which was very unimpressive. The center of it was tough, like it was over-cooked and the amount of butter it was swimming in wasn't very appealing. But the texture and salt were ridiculous! Also, it has no noticeable, unique flavor. When I make this at home, I can typically execute it like Eddie V's and the Asian sauce I use soaks into the fish perfectly to offer great flavor, this one I had here was tough and boring. The 2 bartenders who prompted me to get the Sea Bass came over separately to ask how I liked it and I told both I didn't and explained why, especially that it was took salty. (this normally prompts a visit from a manager, but it didn't!)
We never got the bread we asked for, so I asked again. I needed it to clear all the salt from my mouth, as this amount of salt tore up my mouth!
Side dishes were excellent. The creamed spinach with bacon was outstanding! The jalapeño au gratin was excellent and had a noticeable smokey flavor from the pepper, but no added heat.
Time for the check - I noticed the fish wasn't removed, the only thing he had done was comp us the last round of drinks, one being a happy hour wine. Normally, I would have requested a manager at this point, but I let it go. I had an Amex gift card that I wanted to use in addition to paying the rest with a credit card. When I gave this to them, they said that they don't take gift cards. I informed them to ring it through like a credit card (I just happened to read this in the paperwork that came with from Amex with the card) and he refused saying their restaurant group doesn't take gift cards. This sounded like nonsense to me, but whatever, I just paid on the credit card and we left.
Overall - It was a very mediocre experience. Definitely a place that's at the bottom of my list for future visits when looking for "chain chop houses" so I think I'll stick with Darden's, they not only know how to execute nearly perfectly every time, if they don't they know how to make up for it through their amazing service. read more