Give them some love Sheepshead Bay! Not sure why Terra Café is always empty because after my recent trip there, I have to say that the food is legitimately good!
For the last few years, I would always walk by Terra Café on Sheepshead Bay Road and notice how the restaurant was near empty, if not empty, every evening. It probably had and still has something to do with the fact that the most popular restaurant on the street, Mitoushi, is located right next door. However, I just couldn't ignore Terra any longer because it was one of the last few restaurants in the area that I still had not visited in my quest to try them all in the area.
On a recent Sunday evening, I finally decided to give Terra a shot as I came here with some family members for a group dinner. To my surprise, and no disrespect to Terra, there was actually a large party inside dining. And, to an even greater surprise to me, an even larger party of 15 people came in after us, along with a few smaller groups. I was shocked that the restaurant was half full considering I rarely saw anyone dining here on a daily basis.
Anyhow, we were seated promptly since there was plenty of space in the restaurant. We loved that the menu was so diverse and had so many selections that sounded good. It was actually hard to pick what we wanted for our entrees because there were multiple things we wanted to try from different sections of the menu. To begin our meal, we decided to share 4 appetizers amongst us:
TRUFFLE MAC AND CHEESE
- Amazingly delicious and fragrant. Even though the mac and cheese sat on the other side of our table, I could still smell the ever-addictive aroma of the truffle on top. The mac and cheese was super cheesy and was of the stovetop version, which I love. I prefer mac and cheeses that are smoother and "liquidty" more than baked mac and cheese, which tends to be on the drier side. It's an absolutely must-get appetizer.
FRIED CALAMARI
- Well-fried and good. Nothing about it will surprise you, but it's exactly how fried calamari should be.
AVOCADO FRIES
- I had never seen avocado fries before on any menu anywhere, but this was another must-order appetizer. Basically, it was fried slices of fresh avocado. To be honest it was GENIUS because it was such a simple appetizer, yet so good. If you love fried vegetables (ex: fried pickles, fried tomatoes), then you'll love this dish.
SIBERIAN PELMENI
- Your typical Russian dumpling served with caramelized onions and a side of sour cream. Solid, but nothing spectacular. If you're craving Russian dumplings, go for it, but if you're not, it's something that can be skipped.
For our entrees, I was able to get a taste of my other family members' dishes, but I mostly ate and devoured my own:
BEEF STROGANOFF
- This was my entrée and it was good. There was a lot of sauce in the dish and there were small pieces of beef and mushrooms in it. To the side of the sauce was a serving of mashed potatoes, which mixed perfectly with the sauce. It was definitely very tasty and flavorful.
My family members also ordered the following, but I only had small samples of them:
BURRATA SALAD
- Was a well put together arugula salad and decent. It looked light and had balsamic vinegar scattered over it. It was your typical salad entrée.
STEAK AND FRITS
- The skirt steak was a very thin, but long piece steak. Although we asked for medium rare, only half of it was, but it was still good. As my wife ate more and more of the steak from one side to the other, she noticed that it was more and more done. The frits were your run of the mill French fries, like the ones from McDonald's.
ALMOST CUBAN SANDWICH
- This sandwich was HUGE. I didn't get a chance to sample this, but as the description indicates, there is indeed a fried chicken cutlet in there.
SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS
- I didn't sample this dish either, but this was probably the biggest entrée on our table. There were 5 Tony's Di Napoli-sized meatballs in the dish and it was just massive overall.
LAMB SHANK
- Surprisingly, the lamb shank was only $13. I had a small sample of it and the lamb was pretty tender and covered in a white sauce. It was served with wild rice. The lamb was good.
Honestly, we thought all of the food was excellent, especially the appetizers. We were really surprised how well made everything was considering the lack of customers at times. In addition, service was solid at the start with their 3 waiters, but began to slow down a lot as the restaurant became more crowded than they were probably used to. With all of this said, Terra definitely deserves more attention with their solid food, but I'm not sure if it will get it because of all of the other options on Sheepshead Bay Road. read more