John G.
Yelp
I was invited by a friend to join her here for dinner, she said it was one of her favorite restaurants. The dining room is very noisy. The menu is pleasant enough and the prices completely reasonable. If you like to drink they have a noisy bar which is attached to the dining room.
I had the prime rib, my partner had the BBQ Pulled Pork.
My prime rib was OK. I am a chef so I am probably harder on places like this than most people.
My prime rib arrived and instead of being topped with a nice Au jus so I could see the alleged lovely pink color of my beef, the thing was bathed in a lurid brown sauce of unknown origin. I could have forgiven this act if the sauce was noteworthy, interesting, made in house, or complimented the dish. The sauce achieved none of these things, instead, tasted processed , likely from a Sysco box or bag and only served as an annoyance to me.
I ordered the prime rib medium rare. The piece I was served was to my mind quite a bit past this. Whether this occurred during preparation or was simply overcooked while sitting under a heat lamp is unknown to me but at any rate, it was between medium and well, leaning towards well.
The prime rib itself was OK, not incredible, but OK, albeit maybe a bit too fatty. Here again, I could have forgiven this point if it was a really fine cut of meat but it wasn't, and the very mediocrity of it only served to leave me with a sort of shrug as I tried to cut away the wads of fad for my lucky pooch.
My partner had the BBQ Pulled Pork. Here I have to state right for the record, if you aren't from Texas, or if you don't understand Texas style BBQ then you probably shouldn't serve it to me.
This mess was nothing like BBQ. I don't know where it began life, but I suspect it started out as a pork shoulder in a stew pot , cooked until it fell apart then drown, literally swimming in a sickly sweet BBQ sauce, no doubt another Sysco line item.
My partner thought it was wonderful, I found it to be an abomination, but like I say, I am spoiled and understand what BBQ is suppose to be.
The side dishes consisted of a baked potato, which was fine, (hard to mess up a potato unless you don't cook it long enough , right?) a small dinner salad, pleasant enough thing with some nice croutons and such and a nice Parmesan Garlic dressing. They serve you a little loaf of some prefabricated bread that they cook up in their oven too. If you go in for that sort of thing , then I'm sure you would love it. To me, it always seems lazy and almost insulting when there are so many home made breads that are so easy to produce and so wonderful to consume. Why not toss a loaf of wonder bread on the table. Here I should point out that this is after all Maine, and there is for sure a different level of expectation here with the food you are served.
Next item, the asparagus. With my meal I was served what appeared to be some lovely steamed asparagus with a balsamic reduction on top-perfect, I love this stuff. I took one bite and knew instantly that the food was spoiled. As I write this review , it is between trips to the bathroom to evacuate and after a sleepless night spent vomiting with great ferocity.
I called the waitress over and pointed out that the asparagus was spoiled and she should talk to her chef before they killed someone with it. She was very polite and offered a sincere apology and offered me a replacement which I declined.
Did I mention the deserts?
My partner and I selected a slice of carrot cake and a slice of red velvet cake. Both were highly mediocre. Again, not terrible, but not incredible either and when I go out to eat I expect to have a certain amount of wonder set before me, if it isn't there, then my attitude is why bother. I am a really great chef and I can prepare better meals at home.
This is the point in my review where my chef/restaurant owner background creeps in. I never understood restaurants like this. Why create a restaurant that is OK. What's the point. Clearly they are successful, they had a line of people waiting to eat. I guess the business model works for them and they seem to make enough people happy to succeed.
I just always hope for more.
The service was very attentive and professional. I find that a redeeming point in any dining experience.
Would I go back? Probably, but I think I would likely go for lunch and try a sandwich. For dinner I expect more.