Kincaid's, St. Paul - August 10, 2007

Her perspective: C+
His perspective: C-

This restaurant is one of the reasons we started this blog, but since it's fine dining, we can only afford to go there on occasion. This is usually one of the most consistent in service and food.

However, this visit was not up to their usual par. We were seated immediately, even though we were a few minutes early for our 8:15 reservation. But looking around the restaurant, I wondered why we were unable to get a reservation for 7:00 or 7:30. The place was not even half full. We were seated in the upper level of the dining room, in the more contemporary side. The lower level looks a little more formal and quiet. Also, we were seated right next to a family of four with two small children. Considering that we were obviously a couple, it would have been nice to be seated farther away, especially since there were quite a few tables available. Luckily, the children were very well behaved, but I have been next to my share of unruly children when all I wanted was a quiet dinner.

Our server was rather unattentive, even though he only had one other table, and didn't have much personality. It seemed like he was rushing away from our table to take care of his other table. That's just plain rude. He was knowledgeable about the wines and took the time to explain what we had ordered since it was obvious we had never tried that particular wine before. Our busser was right on top of things the whole night, which, unfortunately, was better than our server.

We noticed that the menu had changed, and William commented that there wasn't much on there that he would order anymore. I think if I'm willing to try something new, there would be plenty that I could order. And there's always their steaks...

I don't usually like seafood, but I'm trying to try new things, so we ordered crabcakes as an appetizer. There were two sauces on the plate under the two crabcakes. I liked the "sweet and sour" sauce better than the white one, but the crabcakes were fairly tasty, although a little dry without sauce. Shortly thereafter, we were served our caesar salads. Warning: there is a deep fried anchovy on this salad. If you don't like them, please be aware.

Several minutes after our salad plates had been cleared, our server stopped by to inform us that the printer had gone down in the kitchen and it would be about 10 more minutes for our entrees. Having worked in restaurants, I know that there is always a contingency plan in place for this kind of thing which should make it seamless for the guests. Honestly, I do think the printers went down, but I also think that our server forgot to send for our food once we received our salads, which would be unacceptable.

William had ordered king crab legs and I stepped completely out of my comfort zone and ordered their cedar-wrapped salmon special. I was very pleasantly surprised; this dish was phenomenal! I had fully expected to not enjoy this, but I ate the whole filet of salmon and would definitely order it again if it's offered. The flavor was spicy, without being spicy-hot and there was so much flavor, that I was quite amazed that I was eating fish! William's crab was decent, but he wasn't impressed.

We did order dessert: William got cheesecake with chocolate sauce and an Irish Coffee while I got a chocolate torte and a cup of coffee. William devoured his cheesecake as usual. I was a little disappointed that the torte wasn't heated more. Interestingly, though, there was both vanilla bean ice cream and creme anglaise accompanying it - not a bad thing, just interesting. Very tasty, though, especially with the sliced strawberry garnish.

We will be back, because we know that this is not typical of the service here. The food is always good and it is still one of our favorite places.