Brian L.
Yelp
From a former executive chef:
My wife and I came here to celebrate our wedding anniversary while staying in Blue Ridge. It was a Wednesday night. No problem getting a reservation, and the restaurant was pretty busy for mid week. It's nice inside, cozy. They kind of pack you in at tight tables, but that's no nevermind to me. Our waitress was nice and friendly. Took out drink orders in a timely manner. My wife ordered a beer, and I just settled for water with lemon before the meal. Our waitress said she'd grab my wife's drink, and some lemons for my water. Wife got her beer, but the lemons never showed up. I've dealt with worse things in life. We ordered the calamari to split for an appetizer. It came out in a timely fashion. Typical breaded and deep fried calamari you get at most places like Biaggi's Italian Restaurant. They were slightly over cooked and rubbery, but hey, it's fried calamari. Easy to have happen. After looking over the menu and seeing they replaced both dishes I had wanted to try (sea bass and the duck entrees) with a Snapper and a pork chop entrees, we both settled on the Salmon Rockefeller. Entrees took a little longer than they should, but we weren't left waiting forever. First impression, noticed my wife had fewer potatoes on her dish than I did. Inconsistency. Salmon tasted ok, however was overcooked and slightly dry. Not hard to do, but when you're playing like a pseudo fine dining restaurant with your prices, this is unexcusable. Was nice that they treated us to a free dessert for our anniversary. We chose the Creme Brulee to split as we saw 2 other tables who were celebrating get and thought it looked good. It was good, good crunch on top, and good flavor. However, noticed the two other couples who had ordered it around us had Creme brulees with a good amount of homemade whipped cream on the side, 4 strawberries, and blueberries. The second couple had 3 strawberries and numerous blueberries on theirs. Ours had a small dollop of whipped cream, 1 strawberry, and 1 blueberry. Again, inconsistency. Unacceptable for the prices you're charging. I did notice the couple next to us ordered the steak and the rack of lamb. The lamb appeared to be overcooked as well. The steak looked good though. Perfect mid-rare. They hardly ate any of their entrees however. Overall, it was an ok experience, and given my past, I might be a little pickier than most. But like I said, when dinner for 2 is over $120, I expect a little better.