I pondered whether I was going to give Georgia Blue two stars or three stars. Even though I…read moreultimately landed on two, that may be a little unfair -- so let me tell you the whole experience and you can make your own determination.
My brother, his wife, and I stopped in for a celebratory late lunch. I ordered an Old Fashioned, and my brother had a double Woodford on the rocks.
My Old Fashioned $10 was really good. And obviously, it's pretty hard to mess up a double Woodford on the rocks -- unless you charge $21 for it. Good grief. I understand restaurant pricing, but somewhere around $15 seems a little more reasonable.
That said, the drinks were good, our waitress was extremely attentive and as nice as she could be, and the restaurant was very clean. Absolutely zero complaints in those areas.
Then came the appetizers.
We ordered the turnip green bites and the fried pickles, roughly $15 and $12 respectively. The turnip green appetizer -- fried with cheese, applewood-smoked bacon, and turnip greens inside -- was absolutely wonderful. And the fried pickles were honestly some of the best I've ever eaten.
In hindsight, we probably should have just paid the bill right then and left on a high note.
I made a comment to my brother, sister-in-law, and the waitress: "If the appetizers are this good, sometimes restaurants let you down when you get to the entrée."
Well, apparently I spoke that into existence.
I don't know that I've ever seen a reg 10-ounce ribeye listed at "market price," something like bone-in Flintstone T-Rex cowboy maybe, so I told my brother, "These are going to be good."
I teased my sister-in-law and asked her what she thought they would cost. She guessed $26. I laughed and said, "They're probably going to be around $40 apiece."
She lost the bet.
They were $38 each.
And I would have been perfectly happy paying $38-$45 for a great ribeye.
Before the steaks arrived, our waitress came back and asked if we were going to need steak sauce. My brother said, "I better not," and we all laughed.
Unfortunately, the three of us were immediately disappointed after taking our first bites. The steaks were just bad.
My brother said his reminded him of a Waffle House steak. My reply, "they're a touch above, but not much".
That may sound harsh, but I understood exactly what he meant. They were thin -- maybe half an inch -- and had those perfect crisscross grill marks that almost looked like they came in that way. The whole thing reminded me more of Golden Corral or Western Sizzlin' from back in the day than what I expected from a $42 out the door ribeye.
When our waitress came back and asked how everything was, we said it was fine, of course, because we were trying to be nice. But my brother then joked, "I should've taken the steak sauce."
He was attempting to be humorous, and we all understood the comment for what it was. He also said that the meal was really about the company, not the steaks -- and that part was absolutely true. We were celebrating together and enjoyed being with one another.
But we really did expect a lot more from the food.
I understand beef is expensive. I don't mind paying $40 for a ribeye. But if you're going to charge $38 for a 10-ounce steak, the quality has to come somewhere close to the price.
Our total lunch bill was about $225, including a $30+ tip, and that's what made the experience so disappointing. We weren't looking for a cheap meal. We were celebrating and were perfectly willing to spend the money.
The service was very good. The restaurant was clean. The drinks were good. The appetizers were excellent. So I may upgrade my two stars to three. You just missed it on the steaks guys.
But Georgia Blue desperately needs to have a conversation with whoever is supplying those ribeyes.
When our waitress asked how everything was, we certainly weren't going to take it out on her -- she did her job exceptionally well.
Georgia Blue, talk to your meat vendor.
