Barking G.
Yelp
When we realized we'd be traveling through Oxford MS on Thanksgiving, we at first worried we'd end up eating at Waffle House. We were delighted to learn that Joel Miller's Kingswood in the Oliver Hotel would be serving a prix fixe menu that day.
The hotel itself is charming, and beautifully decorated for the holidays. Staff was friendly and welcoming. Our waitress, however, seemed undertrained. For example, she left the wine menu on our small table throughout the meal -- though she neglected to ask if we wanted to order wine. Things like that.
It was difficult to match the appetizers to the entrees. The scallop appetizer was okay. The beet salad was actually spinach salad with cubed beets. It was delicious but oversalted, and the beets were bland.
Entrees: The duck was good but there wasn't much of it. Problems came with the redfish etouffee: It came in a chipped bowl, and the sauce was cool, even cold in spots. We asked to have it warmed up. Waitress asked, Do you want to keep your silverware? but there was no place to put it down. (A bread plate -- with maybe some bread -- would have been nice.)
The problem of cold food has arisen a few times in our 40 years of dining out, and the standard response is an apology and an offer to keep the other plate warm while the kitchen fixes the problem. That didn't happen here.
As for the taste, well, we've eaten etouffee in some of the best restaurants in New Orleans and Lafayette, and this was not that. The sauce was a thin tomato sauce, with no sign of the Cajun trinity, and maybe a touch of Cajun seasoning. The fish itself was excellent.
Dessert: The creme brulee was fine, but the apple tart was seriously the worst we've ever had. The crust was thick and gummy, the apples were quite crunchy, and the nutmeg was overwhelming.
Overall and $200 later, although the quality of the ingredients was top-notch, we wonder if we would have been happier at Waffle House.
