Christopher G.
Google
This is a busy, large old house, with tables in different large rooms. It has ample parking, though much of it is unpaved dirt and is solid ice in winter. The feel is comfortable and relaxed, with white butcher paper on tables with crayons to doodle or amuse the kids.
The food is a mix of American comfort food, Italian, and a German dish (schnitzel).
The pork schnitzel, which was okay, at best, comes with "potato pancakes", but what is served is a lump of mashed potatoes grilled like a hamburger; these are absolutely not potato pancakes. The portion on the schnitzel was far too small. The red cabbage tasted a bit salty and two of us at the table, who would otherwise love German-style red cabbage, didn't want them. The portion of peas was anemic, and the random spring onion as a garnish was strange.
The Ripe Tomato Roast Pork was bland and overcooked to the point of being dry; I brought home two pieces to give to the dog. The gravy was thin and while it had some flavor, it had little to suggest it was made with pan drippings or such, as it lacked any robustness, which a proper gravy would have; it tasted like it was perhaps bullion-based. The menu describes it as being served with apple sauce, which should not be solid pieces of apple with a thin sugar juice at the bottom. This was more like cinnamon sugared apples and they were fine, but they were not applesauce.
The Salmon Cake Scampi (not pictured), was passable but lacked any real flavor and there's no indication of if it was fresh fish. The remoulade could only be considered spicy, as the menu describes, if someone thinks of ketchup as a spicy condiment. The linguini accompanying the dish was overcooked, and the lemon flavor lacking.
The Yankee Pot Roast was dry and bland and was served with a huge portion of mashed potatoes. It wasnt fall-apart tender but neither was it tough.
The mozzarella was nicely breaded and cooked well. Be careful cutting into it, as the juices inside will shoot out.
The shrimp and scallop bisque was good, though felt a little lacking in enough of the more savory ingredients, such as the shrimp or scallops. The menu states it is served with a dash of cream sherry, which I thought would come to the table to add yourself, but if it was supposed to, it did not. You also could not see any evidence of cream in the soup, so I have no idea if it was done according to the menu.
We ordered calamari but they were never brought to us. We didn't ask for anything in return, just to make sure it was not on the bill, and the provided three desserts to us anyhow. While that was a nice gesture, there were four of us at the table, so someone missed out. They didn't ask which we'd like nor if we wanted them to go or to have at the table, they just handed us a bag and told us they were to make up for the calamari. The desserts were tiramisù, a chocolate cake, and some sort of oreo cake. The portions were quite small for the tiramisù and the oreo dish, which I don't know if that is typjcal or because they were free. The tiramisù was absolutely not what it claims to be and was a creamy dessert, no espresso flavor, with chocolate sauce drizzled on top and a few ladyfingers on the outside, like fence posts. It was the worst tiramisù we've ever had. The chocolate cake and oreo dessert were eaten by dessert lovers, but neither person said they'd order them again.
This place is rated well and celebrating their 30th anniversary, so either every entree we ordered is one they do poorly, or the local expectations are lower, allowing this to rise to the top, I can't say, but where we had been excited to try this on the drive out, we were all in agreement that it is not one we'll return to for a second chance. There were too many issues that aren't attributable to a bad day to warrant another attempt.
