Fynne M.
Yelp
So my mom, boyfriend and I decided to try this place out of being hungry and driving all day. Big mistake! We figured the ratings looked good and for the prices, they had to have some truly fantastic dishes. We were pretty much ready to eat anything and were ready to try out the great looking menu.
Now here is where it gets weird. I get that it is an American Grille, and they have the classics like steaks and burgers, but they also have French dishes, Italian and at the time I was there, the menu also had a Spanish dish or two thrown in. What? Did not see all of that on the menu online or outside the door. Too many cuisines with too many varying ingredients is indicative of a poor restaurant (The menu appears to have changed since I had visited, so hopefully it is more streamlined now)
Anyway, we got seated pretty quickly despite the crowded bar area. The bar is packed with 50 something year old cougar types and the likes- i.e loud, obnoxious folk-mr. way too much cologne wearer and company.
If that is your thing then cool, but not really what I prefer to surround myself with.
Once we were seated, it took about 10 min for a server to greet us. It was not really overly busy, but maybe they were short staffed. Average greet time should not exceed three minutes, no matter what. This means there is a lack of communication between FOH staff. Bad sign.
The server greets us and give us some bread, which since we are starving, immediately start chowing down on. Something is off- the bread was a variety of diff rolls and slices- kind of like what you would get at a diner-but the BUTTER...UGH. It was this weird, sweet gross butter. A warning or something would have been nice! Like hey, we serve sweet butter here. Nope. There was some olive oil at the table, so that kind of made up for the icky taste.
So since our server took forever, we already knew what we wanted to order. This apparently did not compute to our server. Either that or its some kind of protocol they have to follow. Whatever.
So, on top of waiting 10 min to be greeted, it took about another 15 min to get our drinks and come back. Annoying, because we already knew what we wanted.
We finally order, and just got entrees -no appetizers because nothing appealed to us and we didn't feel like waiting for the main course.
We had high hopes as everyone around us really seemed to be enjoying their meals.
My mom and I ordered the Hazelnut Basa (it is not on their website any longer, but if you go to the menu section here on Yelp, you will see it.)
My boyfriend went with the Lobster Ravioli.
Around 25 minutes later. Yes, 25 minutes...(average ticket times should be between 12-17 minutes) If it is something that will take longer, the guest should be informed that their dish will take longer to make.
This is fish and raviolis. Not rocket science.
Given the longer than average wait time, we were expecting some gourmet plates.
NOPE!
Basa came and it was dry...like really dry. The hazelnut/balsamic reduction combo was sickeningly sweet. Almost like something you would have a for dessert. It was pretty gross. I love food, cook myself and have spent many of my years working and eating in various restaurants. WTF this was, idk. An abomination. That's what! For $25, this was nothing close to meeting expectations.
Now on to the ravioli. You would think for $27 a plate that these ravioli would be made fresh, stuffed to the brim with fresh lobster chunks and cheese and great sauce.
Not. Even. Close. These things are straight from the frozen depths of Restaurant Depot, friends. Complete with the black stripes on them and everything. Trust me, I have been there, I have seen this. You don't want this. They are not bad for like say a quick weeknight dinner at home, but not $27 at a "finer dining" establishment.
We choked down what we could because we were starving. My mom felt guilty because we were pretty excited about this place, and we all completely disliked our entrees.
We would have said something, but our server did not return until a good 10 min after we finished eating. None of us like to complain or send things back, and at this point we were done, tired and completely over this place.
We paid and left (yes we left a good tip, always do, even if things aren't so fantastic. 20% or more, always) and will never return.
Idk what people are raving about here, or why they think it's good, but it most certainly is anything but. It is a complete mishmosh of unflavored slop.
Please. Get a new chef or lower your costs to $10-$12 a dish. Frozen food with terrible sauces is not worth the cost. Just remember, even the dang butter was bad. That's saying something.
Thank you for tuning in- maybe this place is run by Harkonnen, searching for melange ("the spice")... "He who controls the Spice, controls the universe!"