Kevin D.
Yelp
Solid food, very accommodating staff, busy but for good reason.
Once again, randomly in the area and saw this place was very favored with the locals. So we came here for a date night. We got seated right away and the place was jam packed. We got seated next to a giant party who took up the entire center of the dining area. in a cozy little two-top.
Because of the big party, we didn't get a server until about 10 minutes after being sat. Once they realized that we were there without menus and drinks, they quickly rectified that for us. We decided to get the blue cheese fondue, their "stack" which was a jumbo crab cake on top of a filet with blue cheese mash and asparagus.
I can't eat a lot, and I was interested in their smoked gouda pasta dish. I asked if I could do a half-portion and they were able to accommodate. Not many places are willing to, but thankfully they were able to.
Food came out reasonably quick. The kitchen was in full swing, pushing out lots of food. Almost too quickly though, as the serving staff was having a hard time keeping up with the pace. But eventually our food got to our table and we dug in.
The blue cheese fondue was pretty good. the garlic knots and the chicken skewers were the star of the show though. The chicken was perfectly cooked, tender, seasoned, and paired well with the fondue. Probably could've been smaller chunks of chicken rather than strips, but given the perfect cook, totally okay with it not being in chunks.
The Fondue was actually the weaker element on the plate. It was creamy and a little funky, but they definitely tempered that funk down a lot. I got more cheese sauce than blue cheese, which is great if you don't like blue cheese. I like blue cheese though, and I was looking for that funk.
Same goes for the smoked gouda pasta. It was really good, the pasta was cooked fully and the cheese sauce was cheesy, but light on the smoke. the chicken pieces in this dish were also perfectly cooked as well, it was very tasty.
The Stack was good, but the biggest detractor was the alfredo sauce they put on top of everything. The filet was perfectly seared and cooked to medium rare, the blue cheese mash was creamy and pleasantly funky, with little pieces of cooked potato. The green beans were cooked, seasoned, oiled, and served well. The crab cake was flaked imitation crab, loosely piled on top of the filet then seared and placed on top.
Then it all got covered in a thick cream sauce with just a hint of parmesan. If there was a lot of pepper in the cream sauce, then at least I could make a case of it being like a southern biscuits and gravy sauce. The sauce was lacking punch though, and that was a disappointment.
I would probably skip the crab cake next time and just do the filet. Or swap it out for some butter poached jumbo shrimp placed on top. also I would skip the whole sauce dump on top, the alfredo on top doesn't seem right for the style of dish it is.
Pricing was high, but not unreasonably so. The service was excellent, despite the delays in serving. The food is good, but is lacking the flavors promised by the descriptions of the dishes.
this is a good place to celebrate if you happen to be in the area. The foods pretty good and the place has a nice, modern atmosphere. It's a busy place, so you might have to wait. but if you can wait, it's pretty good!