Brian W.
Yelp
Lost a star with every course. Not to mention the lackluster service. Un-im-pressed. I was staying at the Westdrift on business, got in about 7:00 from Austin (so tired), and just wanted to stay in the hotel. Jute looked like a good option, with a good looking (but expensive) menu and some good Yelp reviews. Things started off great with the Shishito peppers, and I mean fantastically great. If it weren't for the service (more on that in a bit) I was all set for a sterling review. I like Shishito's in the first place; usually they are blistered and prepared with a little sea salt. I was a little skeptical of these, as they come with a little soy sauce, lime, and garlic. Turned out to be out of this world good. Crazy good. I could have had those all night. Based on the peppers I could not wait to try the Spanish Shrimps I ordered for my main. This was a "share or not share" plate, tapas style. However, whether you share or not just be prepared that it is not very good. My main complaint is that the shrimp were way overcooked. So much so that I considered sending it back. The sauce was also off-putting. It was tomato based, with some heat, and pieces of chorizo. Weird chorizo. Not ground, as I thought I'd get, but little pieces of a chorizo sausage that had the consistency of a "little smokie's". Strange. There was a bread garnish that didn't add much. After the peppers I was so disappointed!! Well, I thought maybe dessert would redeem Jute and maybe salvage a review. Nope. I had what have to be the most tasteless doughnuts ever fried. They looked great - just no flavor. Not exactly pillowy either - more like fried an hour ago. Some plain and not impressive ice cream to accompany this last gasp from the kitchen. Bummer.
The service, as said was lackluster at best. Not an unfriendly server, just apathetic and missing most of the time. It was not exactly busy, so I don't get why I had to flag down my server for things. He also acted pained to be serving me, like he really had something better to do.
Nice view of the golf course, if you like that sort of view.
There look to be lots of great restaurants close to the beach. Next time I'll try one of those. No more Jute.