Grade: C
We went here for her birthday thinking it be like a similar restaurant we'd previously dined at in Las Vegas. Both are similar in that the salad bar is your appetizer, and then servers constantly come around offering a variety of meats prepared in a few different fashions until you signal that you don't want anymore.
Fogo did that, but not very well. For starters this place is listed as fine dining, but the plethora of persons in jeans and t-shirts says otherwise. And the noise! My god, we couldn't talk to each sitting at the same table without having to regularly repeat ourselves. And our reservation! We actually arrived just a few minutes late (we had called ahead to let them know we'd be just a few minutes late) and still had to wait 20 minutes in the bar because they were over booked. Annoying, and not entirely understandable, but I'd have guessed that with this style of restaurant you'd have people dining longer as they're waiting for more food to brought around, and since it's basically all-you-can-eat people would take advantage.
I'd hoped the food would make up for some of these negatives, but actually it didn't. Some bits of meat were quite good, the rest tasted like they came off my backyard grill. Now that's not saying its bad, but if I can do that same kind of cooking and get the same kind of flavors by cooking at home, why would I go there and pay 4-times more for the food? We also had to settle on the champagne side of things. They don't carry Dom! What fine dining establishment doesn't carry on of the beverage standards for fine dining?!? We went with White Star instead (same vineyard as Dom) and all they had were splits (small bottles for those not familiar with the term) as there was a wedding reception happening in another area and apparently they drank all the larger bottles.
The salad bar was not at all impressive, and in fact they were out of a few items when we walked through. I waited around for a few minutes for the ceaser salad to get replenished, but the empty bowl just sat there with all these employee's walking back and forth around it.
I was very disappointed with the whole experience, and Maryanne wasn't much happier than I. She enjoyed all the food of course, but we both had similar issue with the atmosphere and other clientele.
Still, if you've never been to a Brazilian style restaurant, then give it a try. I'd suggest going during the week instead of a weekend, and make sure you arrive hungry (and are a meat eater of course). I wasn't at all impressed, but Maryanne overall enjoyed herself and that's what counted.
We did decide on the way home however that we're now on a mission to find the best fine dining establishments in the Twin Cities. We've dined at too many places that call themselves fine dining to not notice a sorry trend: they aren't fine dining. Armed with that knowledge we're going to search for the top 5, best of the best that the Cities has to offer.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Part 1
Unless your a huge Harry Potter fan and simply must see it now, wait for a rental.
Slow, plodding, lots of miscellaneous plot and storyline stuff... it all makes for a really dull movie. I understand that the last book of the series is simply too large to fit into one movie (which is why Part 1) but I'd think the screen writers or somebody could've at least made the movie more interesting.
The important bits: the threesome (Harry and friends) set off on their own yet again to find and destroy all the remaining horcruxes (sp?). They go alone because everyone else is in danger, Harry is being actively hunted buy the big V and his cronies, and Harry is afraid other people will get hurt (no surprise there). Ron and Harry of course get to fighting and Ron storms off only to return later to save Harry (go figure).
The biggest problem is that, in my mind, we've seen this movie already. They're not doing anything new yet (that's all in Part 2 I guess), and that makes it really boring especially when there are such long waits between the important bits. I guess you need to see it to understand what's coming, and that's a really weak reason to make a movie in my opinion, and understanding that I'd suggest you wait for a $1 rental in a few months. The second part is coming spring of next year if I recall correctly, and I'm sure they'll have this movie out on disc before then.
If you must see it in a theater, go for the matinee at least.
Slow, plodding, lots of miscellaneous plot and storyline stuff... it all makes for a really dull movie. I understand that the last book of the series is simply too large to fit into one movie (which is why Part 1) but I'd think the screen writers or somebody could've at least made the movie more interesting.
The important bits: the threesome (Harry and friends) set off on their own yet again to find and destroy all the remaining horcruxes (sp?). They go alone because everyone else is in danger, Harry is being actively hunted buy the big V and his cronies, and Harry is afraid other people will get hurt (no surprise there). Ron and Harry of course get to fighting and Ron storms off only to return later to save Harry (go figure).
The biggest problem is that, in my mind, we've seen this movie already. They're not doing anything new yet (that's all in Part 2 I guess), and that makes it really boring especially when there are such long waits between the important bits. I guess you need to see it to understand what's coming, and that's a really weak reason to make a movie in my opinion, and understanding that I'd suggest you wait for a $1 rental in a few months. The second part is coming spring of next year if I recall correctly, and I'm sure they'll have this movie out on disc before then.
If you must see it in a theater, go for the matinee at least.
RED
Ehhh... See it in the theater while you have time I guess.
Not that the movie is bad mind you, just a bit slow and campy at time. There are some slick action sequences and such, but overall you'll be familiar with most of the characters right away. Bruce Willis is always cast in these down-n-out law enforcement type roles, which his role in this movie isn't exactly but it's awful close. Morgan Freeman is doing his best intellectual impersonation (with just a bit of action). You'll recognize lots of faces though you may not know all the names. And the movie plot is also pretty predictable so it makes it difficult to be surprised when things happen farther along (like the twist on the twist near the end, I saw it coming an hour earlier).
Regardless, it was overall a fun and enjoyable movie. I'll probably buy it when it comes out on video, and I'd suggest seeing it in the theater before it's gone. Go for a matinee with a bunch of friends and you'll do well. There is a lot of little stuff happening ont he screen, and if you don't have a very large screen to see it all you'll miss a few little bits here and there.
Not that the movie is bad mind you, just a bit slow and campy at time. There are some slick action sequences and such, but overall you'll be familiar with most of the characters right away. Bruce Willis is always cast in these down-n-out law enforcement type roles, which his role in this movie isn't exactly but it's awful close. Morgan Freeman is doing his best intellectual impersonation (with just a bit of action). You'll recognize lots of faces though you may not know all the names. And the movie plot is also pretty predictable so it makes it difficult to be surprised when things happen farther along (like the twist on the twist near the end, I saw it coming an hour earlier).
Regardless, it was overall a fun and enjoyable movie. I'll probably buy it when it comes out on video, and I'd suggest seeing it in the theater before it's gone. Go for a matinee with a bunch of friends and you'll do well. There is a lot of little stuff happening ont he screen, and if you don't have a very large screen to see it all you'll miss a few little bits here and there.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Tin Cup - July 26
Definately an A- or an A
Tin Cup closed quite a few months back, and we had eaten there once before we started doing these reviews. Suffice it to say it was dark, dark, more dark, and not worth the money for the slop you got for food.
New owners came in, did a bit of remodeling, added some much needed windows and paint, new furnishings, did away with the smallish buffet-style table thingy in the back, revamped the menu and many other changes.
Walking in this time, we wouldn't have recognized the place from our prior visit.
In short: The food was great, the service good to great, the drinks were tasty (we only had a few, but it was a varied selection on her part). We used to think Matt's Bar in Minneapolis had the best Juicy Lucy (or Jucy Lucy if your a Matt's regular) but the same burger here will easily give Matt's a run for the money. Bigger, meatier, and terribly tasty (I almost had 2, which would've also meant I'd have to be rolled back out to the car as I'd not've been able to walk). The fries are tasty, even the cheese curds were tasty (though I didn't get the ranch dressing the menu says they come with, still good without it).
The bartender was chatty, well informed, and apparently worked at Tin Cup before it closed as he knew quite a few things about the prior owners and how things were operated and such. He was friendly and outgoing and we enjoyed chatting with him.
The liquor selection seems smallish, but I'll bet that once word starts to spread about the new Tin Cup and business starts to pickup and they've got more money to spend on supplies, that selection will grow as will the menu.
The current menu is not large but is varied. They had a selection of sandwiches and wraps, 4 versions of the Juicy Lucy (try the Lucifer), and a small selection of appetizers. I also noticed upon entering that they seem to have a nightly or weekly special as a lighted sign was advertising an entree that wasn't on the menu.
We will DEFINITELY be back here again, and soon. The place looks good (a nearly 100% turn-around from our prior visit), the food was good, the service was good, the drinks were good... it was all just good! Such a pleasent experience considering the kind of garbage we usually run into at most other restaurants.
We both really do recommend you try it out at least once, and form your own opinion (I'll bet you'll give them at least a B rating).
As proof of that, here's where it is:
Google Map Link to Tin Cup
Tin Cup closed quite a few months back, and we had eaten there once before we started doing these reviews. Suffice it to say it was dark, dark, more dark, and not worth the money for the slop you got for food.
New owners came in, did a bit of remodeling, added some much needed windows and paint, new furnishings, did away with the smallish buffet-style table thingy in the back, revamped the menu and many other changes.
Walking in this time, we wouldn't have recognized the place from our prior visit.
In short: The food was great, the service good to great, the drinks were tasty (we only had a few, but it was a varied selection on her part). We used to think Matt's Bar in Minneapolis had the best Juicy Lucy (or Jucy Lucy if your a Matt's regular) but the same burger here will easily give Matt's a run for the money. Bigger, meatier, and terribly tasty (I almost had 2, which would've also meant I'd have to be rolled back out to the car as I'd not've been able to walk). The fries are tasty, even the cheese curds were tasty (though I didn't get the ranch dressing the menu says they come with, still good without it).
The bartender was chatty, well informed, and apparently worked at Tin Cup before it closed as he knew quite a few things about the prior owners and how things were operated and such. He was friendly and outgoing and we enjoyed chatting with him.
The liquor selection seems smallish, but I'll bet that once word starts to spread about the new Tin Cup and business starts to pickup and they've got more money to spend on supplies, that selection will grow as will the menu.
The current menu is not large but is varied. They had a selection of sandwiches and wraps, 4 versions of the Juicy Lucy (try the Lucifer), and a small selection of appetizers. I also noticed upon entering that they seem to have a nightly or weekly special as a lighted sign was advertising an entree that wasn't on the menu.
We will DEFINITELY be back here again, and soon. The place looks good (a nearly 100% turn-around from our prior visit), the food was good, the service was good, the drinks were good... it was all just good! Such a pleasent experience considering the kind of garbage we usually run into at most other restaurants.
We both really do recommend you try it out at least once, and form your own opinion (I'll bet you'll give them at least a B rating).
As proof of that, here's where it is:
Google Map Link to Tin Cup
Sunday, July 18, 2010
St Claire Broiler - July 18
Rating: C-
We were seated pretty much right away, but the table had not been wiped before we sat down and the host put my menu on top of some syrup. I asked him to wipe the table and he got a towel immediately and wiped the table and my menu.
Our server seamed nice enough, but we soon learned that she was overwhelmed; she had at least 5 tables. The server that delivered our meals was a little rude. He set the plates down and asked if we needed anything else and I mentioned that I had ordered milk to be served with the meal. He said that our server probably had that and walked away. His demeanor was surly and almost beligerant.
William ordered the Iron Lake omelet, which has ham and wild rice in it, served with hash browns and toast. The hash browns were only cooked on one side. While this is the current trend, it runs the risk of being cold/undercooked in the middle, which was the case today. The omelet was overcooked on the bottom and all the toast was burnt.
I ordered the french toast with bacon. Our server asked if I wanted the cinnamon roll french toast or the regular, then proceded to explain what the cinnamon roll french toast was. I ordered the regular, but ended up wishing I had ordered the other. The slices of bread were over an inch thick, and were not dipped in the batter long enough to soak into the middle. They were also barely warm, so when I saw our server, I asked her to heat them up. When I got them back, it was obvious they had been microwaved and the crust of the bread was very tough and rubbery. William finished my french toast (I was too full) and it took him almost 30 seconds just to cut through the bread with his knife.
Our server did bring my milk right after the food was delivered and she did check back after my reheat came back. She asked if it was better and when I told her that it was hotter, she walked away. She never apologized for the food being cold or delved further to see how it was other than the temperature. William had to wait for quite a while for a refill on his soda and after our plates had been cleared, we waited for more than 10 minutes for our check.
What a disappointment! Our last visit here was great and this one was was pretty bad. We'll have to wait a while before we go back.
We were seated pretty much right away, but the table had not been wiped before we sat down and the host put my menu on top of some syrup. I asked him to wipe the table and he got a towel immediately and wiped the table and my menu.
Our server seamed nice enough, but we soon learned that she was overwhelmed; she had at least 5 tables. The server that delivered our meals was a little rude. He set the plates down and asked if we needed anything else and I mentioned that I had ordered milk to be served with the meal. He said that our server probably had that and walked away. His demeanor was surly and almost beligerant.
William ordered the Iron Lake omelet, which has ham and wild rice in it, served with hash browns and toast. The hash browns were only cooked on one side. While this is the current trend, it runs the risk of being cold/undercooked in the middle, which was the case today. The omelet was overcooked on the bottom and all the toast was burnt.
I ordered the french toast with bacon. Our server asked if I wanted the cinnamon roll french toast or the regular, then proceded to explain what the cinnamon roll french toast was. I ordered the regular, but ended up wishing I had ordered the other. The slices of bread were over an inch thick, and were not dipped in the batter long enough to soak into the middle. They were also barely warm, so when I saw our server, I asked her to heat them up. When I got them back, it was obvious they had been microwaved and the crust of the bread was very tough and rubbery. William finished my french toast (I was too full) and it took him almost 30 seconds just to cut through the bread with his knife.
Our server did bring my milk right after the food was delivered and she did check back after my reheat came back. She asked if it was better and when I told her that it was hotter, she walked away. She never apologized for the food being cold or delved further to see how it was other than the temperature. William had to wait for quite a while for a refill on his soda and after our plates had been cleared, we waited for more than 10 minutes for our check.
What a disappointment! Our last visit here was great and this one was was pretty bad. We'll have to wait a while before we go back.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
IHOP, Maplewood-July 11, 2010
Rating: D
Before we even sat down, we were waiting 5 minutes for a table (which I have no problem with) and William noticed that the entry area was very dirty. The windows, floor and counter had obviously not been cleaned in some time, including snot on the wall.
At our table, it was again obvious that it had not been cleaned properly. the syrup dispensers were sticky and had a build up of old syrup sticking to the bottom. The salt and pepper shakers also had not been cleaned in some time.
We waited more than 5 minutes at the table to even be greeted and it was apparent that our server was overwhelmed.
I ordered scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and pancakes with apples on top. Everything tasted decently, but they put cold apple compote on top of hot pancakes, which cooled the pancakes. It would have tasted a lot better if the apples had been hot.
William ordered basted eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns and toast. The eggs were over hard, not basted. A restaurant that serves breakfast all day and that is what they're known for should be well versed in all the different ways to cook eggs.
At one point, the manager came into the room (we were in a side room) and asked the server in the next section which table he was going to give up because the manager thought he had too many. At that point, he only had 4 tables, and three of them had their check. This was plenty loud enough for all the customers in the room to hear. Conversations like that should be in private, or, at the very least, in the back where there are only other employees. Consequently, if anyone should have been giving up tables, it should have been our server.
Our server was very inattentive and William had to wait a long time for a refill on his soda. I would have notified the manager of the issues, but after seeing his exchange with the server, I felt like he would blow me off.
The main concern, though, was just how filthy everything was. We should have walked out when we sat down - and will do so next time we are presented with the same situation.
William actually sent an e-mail to the company while we were still in the waiting area regarding the cleanliness of the restaurant. He received a reply stating that we should go back and ask for a specific manager. It is doubtful we will go back as we have had a few bad (and no good) experiences at this restaurant.
Before we even sat down, we were waiting 5 minutes for a table (which I have no problem with) and William noticed that the entry area was very dirty. The windows, floor and counter had obviously not been cleaned in some time, including snot on the wall.
At our table, it was again obvious that it had not been cleaned properly. the syrup dispensers were sticky and had a build up of old syrup sticking to the bottom. The salt and pepper shakers also had not been cleaned in some time.
We waited more than 5 minutes at the table to even be greeted and it was apparent that our server was overwhelmed.
I ordered scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and pancakes with apples on top. Everything tasted decently, but they put cold apple compote on top of hot pancakes, which cooled the pancakes. It would have tasted a lot better if the apples had been hot.
William ordered basted eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns and toast. The eggs were over hard, not basted. A restaurant that serves breakfast all day and that is what they're known for should be well versed in all the different ways to cook eggs.
At one point, the manager came into the room (we were in a side room) and asked the server in the next section which table he was going to give up because the manager thought he had too many. At that point, he only had 4 tables, and three of them had their check. This was plenty loud enough for all the customers in the room to hear. Conversations like that should be in private, or, at the very least, in the back where there are only other employees. Consequently, if anyone should have been giving up tables, it should have been our server.
Our server was very inattentive and William had to wait a long time for a refill on his soda. I would have notified the manager of the issues, but after seeing his exchange with the server, I felt like he would blow me off.
The main concern, though, was just how filthy everything was. We should have walked out when we sat down - and will do so next time we are presented with the same situation.
William actually sent an e-mail to the company while we were still in the waiting area regarding the cleanliness of the restaurant. He received a reply stating that we should go back and ask for a specific manager. It is doubtful we will go back as we have had a few bad (and no good) experiences at this restaurant.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Avatar
Rating: ehh...
Oh My God....
It's FERN GULLY with guns!!
Whatever... don't believe the hype. Still entertaining, we're glad we waited for it to show up in the local RedBox.
Oh My God....
It's FERN GULLY with guns!!
Whatever... don't believe the hype. Still entertaining, we're glad we waited for it to show up in the local RedBox.
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Iron Man 2
B+
We saw this recently with some friends at the Kerasotes (now AMC) Showplace ICON theater in Saint Louis Park. We had the VIP seating in the balcony (nice comfy chairs, tables, lottsa space and leg room). These seats are a bit more expensive than the regular admission seating and require reservations/pre-purchase, but they're worth it for the big-deal and/or long movies you really want to see in a theater.
Anyway, you've read the review we did for Iron Man last year. I have to say that IM2 suffers from some of the same problems. Bits of the movie are just plain too long and quite boring, some sections could probably have been left out as they lend not much to the movie over all, and my FAVORITE thing to pick on... scenes in the TV commercials and theater trailers were not in the actual movie (I really hate when studios do that).
Still, generic plot stuff: The son of a Russian scientist that Stark's father worked with years ago on the Arc Reactor (remember the first movie) either bought, stole or somehow acquired plans to the chest power source Tony uses to keep himself alive and power his armor. This guy (who for those familiar with the Marvel Universe is called Whiplash) builds his electric whip weapons and goes after Tony in Monaco at a car race. He fails cause Stark has a portable briefcase sized version of the armor and was able to beat Whiplash, who is arrested.
One of the sub-plots running through the movie is that Tony is slowly being poisoned by the very device keeping him alive, and he's been working on a new design without success. He takes some kind of drink he made up to stave off the effects of the heavy metal poisoning, but is still losing the fight.
Anyway, Whiplash gets out of jail and is hired on by one of Starks competitors who wants not only the power source, but armor suits of his own to sell to the military. Oh, somewhere in between the initial fight and these new suits being developed (remember how I said parts of it were too long?) Rhode's takes the Mark II suit (the silverish one) and hands it over to the Air Force, who in turn hand it off to this guy Hammer that's working with Whiplash now. They mod the heck out of the suit adding weapons and such and call it War Machine, which Rhodes still pilots.
Meanwhile, Stark continues thinking he's dead soon, and starts giving away his company (to Pepper) and tossing out compute files and papers and such, getting drunk and throwing parties.
He eventually discovers that the new element he needs to make a new power source that won't poison him was thought up by his father 20 or more years ago and left hidden in plain sight for Tony to find years later (which he does). Tony ends up creating this new element based on Dad's design and builds a new chest piece that miraculously not only gives him renewed strength gut heals him of the heavy metal poisoning as well, all with-in a few seconds.
Just in time, as Whiplash is taking over all these drones he built for Hammer, including the War Machine suit, and going after Iron Man again.
Big fight ensues, where whiplash dies, the drones are destroyed, Rhodes recovers and helps in the fight, and everyone that needs to live does so.
See? Pretty easy to sum up this movie. Provided I left out a couple people, and a bunch of junk that doesn't really matter to the story.
A good movie if you can get through the boring bits (and there are more than a couple) but worth seeing in the theater regardless if your a fan.
Oh, they find Thor's hammer in the desert of Nevada at the end of the movie (for the upcoming Avengers movie next year).
We did enjoy the movie, and we actually intend to see it again here soon, partly because we did enjoy it, partly because I started day-dreaming in parts of the movie and missed some bits (remember, boring bits). Still pretty good movie with quite a few funny bits thrown in.
We saw this recently with some friends at the Kerasotes (now AMC) Showplace ICON theater in Saint Louis Park. We had the VIP seating in the balcony (nice comfy chairs, tables, lottsa space and leg room). These seats are a bit more expensive than the regular admission seating and require reservations/pre-purchase, but they're worth it for the big-deal and/or long movies you really want to see in a theater.
Anyway, you've read the review we did for Iron Man last year. I have to say that IM2 suffers from some of the same problems. Bits of the movie are just plain too long and quite boring, some sections could probably have been left out as they lend not much to the movie over all, and my FAVORITE thing to pick on... scenes in the TV commercials and theater trailers were not in the actual movie (I really hate when studios do that).
Still, generic plot stuff: The son of a Russian scientist that Stark's father worked with years ago on the Arc Reactor (remember the first movie) either bought, stole or somehow acquired plans to the chest power source Tony uses to keep himself alive and power his armor. This guy (who for those familiar with the Marvel Universe is called Whiplash) builds his electric whip weapons and goes after Tony in Monaco at a car race. He fails cause Stark has a portable briefcase sized version of the armor and was able to beat Whiplash, who is arrested.
One of the sub-plots running through the movie is that Tony is slowly being poisoned by the very device keeping him alive, and he's been working on a new design without success. He takes some kind of drink he made up to stave off the effects of the heavy metal poisoning, but is still losing the fight.
Anyway, Whiplash gets out of jail and is hired on by one of Starks competitors who wants not only the power source, but armor suits of his own to sell to the military. Oh, somewhere in between the initial fight and these new suits being developed (remember how I said parts of it were too long?) Rhode's takes the Mark II suit (the silverish one) and hands it over to the Air Force, who in turn hand it off to this guy Hammer that's working with Whiplash now. They mod the heck out of the suit adding weapons and such and call it War Machine, which Rhodes still pilots.
Meanwhile, Stark continues thinking he's dead soon, and starts giving away his company (to Pepper) and tossing out compute files and papers and such, getting drunk and throwing parties.
He eventually discovers that the new element he needs to make a new power source that won't poison him was thought up by his father 20 or more years ago and left hidden in plain sight for Tony to find years later (which he does). Tony ends up creating this new element based on Dad's design and builds a new chest piece that miraculously not only gives him renewed strength gut heals him of the heavy metal poisoning as well, all with-in a few seconds.
Just in time, as Whiplash is taking over all these drones he built for Hammer, including the War Machine suit, and going after Iron Man again.
Big fight ensues, where whiplash dies, the drones are destroyed, Rhodes recovers and helps in the fight, and everyone that needs to live does so.
See? Pretty easy to sum up this movie. Provided I left out a couple people, and a bunch of junk that doesn't really matter to the story.
A good movie if you can get through the boring bits (and there are more than a couple) but worth seeing in the theater regardless if your a fan.
Oh, they find Thor's hammer in the desert of Nevada at the end of the movie (for the upcoming Avengers movie next year).
We did enjoy the movie, and we actually intend to see it again here soon, partly because we did enjoy it, partly because I started day-dreaming in parts of the movie and missed some bits (remember, boring bits). Still pretty good movie with quite a few funny bits thrown in.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Washington Square Bar & Grill, White Bear Lake
With my foot being broken for the last few weeks, we haven't been going out much, but that means that William's been cooking a lot, so we decided (on our way home from him picking me up from work) that we would go out. Using his iPhone apps, we found a place to try in White Bear Lake (15 miles from our location at the time).
Grade: C
We were told at the host stand that it would be a 10-15 minute wait. Their dining room only has about 12 tables and, apparently, they only had one server staffed, so they were controlling the flow by making us wait in the bar. We were able to find a table (for me to sit down) in the bar and waited at least 5-7 minutes before anyone came over. She asked us if we were waiting for a table, but looked confused. I guess sometimes they seat tables in the bar, so she wasn't sure if we were staying there or going to move. I ordered a martini and shortly after it arrived, our pager went off saying our table was ready.
We walked into the dining room where the host gave us a choice of table by the window or by the fireplace. I tend to get chilly by the window, so we chose the other table. However, it had not yet been wiped off. We had to stand there waiting until the host got a towel and wiped it down. (The seats never got wiped down. I had to brush crumbs from my chair.)
Greet time was a little longer than most people like, but he seemed friendly and gave us time to look over the menus after getting William's drink order (I still had my martini.) We waved him over when we were ready and he wrote everything down.
Starter was potato boats which were cold on the bottom and in the middle, burnt on top and had some bad spots. I wasn't going to finish the last one, but the server came over to inform us that the computer system had rebooted for no reason and he couldn't send our entree order to the kitchen, so it would be another 15-20 minutes. I asked if he could give them a paper ticket and he said the kitchen would not accept that since the system would be back up in 5 minutes or so. He did send the manager over, who apologized for the delay and took our starter off the bill.
Editorial: Every restaurant owner/manager should know that technology fails sometimes and they have to be able to run without it. Five minutes is a long time to a guest who is waiting for their food.
When our food finally came, my steak was undercooked and my broccoli was cold. When the server checked back, I asked him to heat up the broccoli. Without saying a word, he left to grab a small plate and held it next to my plate so I could scrape the broccoli from one plate to another. The only thing that was right was my baked potato. The "steak sauce" that was served with my meal tasted like Hormel chili that wasn't even heated up. William had ordered the chicken caesar wrap, which had luke warm chicken (apparently, it was supposed to be hot).
I did order another martini - these were signature drinks and neither one of them was very tasty. The mix of flavors just wasn't balanced.
I ended up taking most of my steak in a box, along with my broccoli and asked the server if there was a dessert menu. There isn't, and he rattled off the dessert choices, then added that the apple crisp takes about 15 minutes to make. If I had known that, I might have asked him to order that before I was done with my entree.
Anyway, we wanted to get home at that point, so we declined dessert and asked for our check.
Would we go back? Maybe. It might be a while, though, and it might be only for drinks and appetizers if we happen to be in the area.
Grade: C
We were told at the host stand that it would be a 10-15 minute wait. Their dining room only has about 12 tables and, apparently, they only had one server staffed, so they were controlling the flow by making us wait in the bar. We were able to find a table (for me to sit down) in the bar and waited at least 5-7 minutes before anyone came over. She asked us if we were waiting for a table, but looked confused. I guess sometimes they seat tables in the bar, so she wasn't sure if we were staying there or going to move. I ordered a martini and shortly after it arrived, our pager went off saying our table was ready.
We walked into the dining room where the host gave us a choice of table by the window or by the fireplace. I tend to get chilly by the window, so we chose the other table. However, it had not yet been wiped off. We had to stand there waiting until the host got a towel and wiped it down. (The seats never got wiped down. I had to brush crumbs from my chair.)
Greet time was a little longer than most people like, but he seemed friendly and gave us time to look over the menus after getting William's drink order (I still had my martini.) We waved him over when we were ready and he wrote everything down.
Starter was potato boats which were cold on the bottom and in the middle, burnt on top and had some bad spots. I wasn't going to finish the last one, but the server came over to inform us that the computer system had rebooted for no reason and he couldn't send our entree order to the kitchen, so it would be another 15-20 minutes. I asked if he could give them a paper ticket and he said the kitchen would not accept that since the system would be back up in 5 minutes or so. He did send the manager over, who apologized for the delay and took our starter off the bill.
Editorial: Every restaurant owner/manager should know that technology fails sometimes and they have to be able to run without it. Five minutes is a long time to a guest who is waiting for their food.
When our food finally came, my steak was undercooked and my broccoli was cold. When the server checked back, I asked him to heat up the broccoli. Without saying a word, he left to grab a small plate and held it next to my plate so I could scrape the broccoli from one plate to another. The only thing that was right was my baked potato. The "steak sauce" that was served with my meal tasted like Hormel chili that wasn't even heated up. William had ordered the chicken caesar wrap, which had luke warm chicken (apparently, it was supposed to be hot).
I did order another martini - these were signature drinks and neither one of them was very tasty. The mix of flavors just wasn't balanced.
I ended up taking most of my steak in a box, along with my broccoli and asked the server if there was a dessert menu. There isn't, and he rattled off the dessert choices, then added that the apple crisp takes about 15 minutes to make. If I had known that, I might have asked him to order that before I was done with my entree.
Anyway, we wanted to get home at that point, so we declined dessert and asked for our check.
Would we go back? Maybe. It might be a while, though, and it might be only for drinks and appetizers if we happen to be in the area.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Kincaid's
Our Grade: D
We received some gfit cards to this place for Christmas, so when Valentines rolled around we (she) decided we'd give it another try.
This visit simply served to reinforce our reasons for not dining here anymore:
Poor service
Average food quality
Average food taste and appearance
Prices too high for what you get overall
Our steaks were steaks, hers cooked correctly but mine a bit over done and dry. They had no real flavor however. The menu talks about the dry rub they use and the aging process they put all their meat through, but I've had better $10 steaks off my $70 backyard grill than we had this night. And the potato's had no flavor, none! Not even 'potato like' flavor.
We had to ask for the dessert menu, were never asked how our food was, and had to sit and wait between 'courses' for our server to notice we were finished. Our expected 2 hour-ish meal turned into 3 hours easy with all the waiting we did, and the restaurant wasn't even that busy (about 30% tables available at the time of our reservation). And as for the fine dining atmosphere, it seems to have disappeared almost entirely since we dined here last. Much of the decor is gone, and the whole place is much darker now.
We stopped eating here because of the food and service quality, and we'll be waiting another long while before trying it again.
We received some gfit cards to this place for Christmas, so when Valentines rolled around we (she) decided we'd give it another try.
This visit simply served to reinforce our reasons for not dining here anymore:
Poor service
Average food quality
Average food taste and appearance
Prices too high for what you get overall
Our steaks were steaks, hers cooked correctly but mine a bit over done and dry. They had no real flavor however. The menu talks about the dry rub they use and the aging process they put all their meat through, but I've had better $10 steaks off my $70 backyard grill than we had this night. And the potato's had no flavor, none! Not even 'potato like' flavor.
We had to ask for the dessert menu, were never asked how our food was, and had to sit and wait between 'courses' for our server to notice we were finished. Our expected 2 hour-ish meal turned into 3 hours easy with all the waiting we did, and the restaurant wasn't even that busy (about 30% tables available at the time of our reservation). And as for the fine dining atmosphere, it seems to have disappeared almost entirely since we dined here last. Much of the decor is gone, and the whole place is much darker now.
We stopped eating here because of the food and service quality, and we'll be waiting another long while before trying it again.
We're back!
After multiple issues, both on the internet connection and with the site host, we're back in business.
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