The Brick House — Restaurant in Ada

I had a dish not on the regular menu. I saw it on the specials board when we walked in. It was a linguine with clams, oysters, mussels, and shrimp for only $13.00. I was surprised at first to find all of the shellfish on the half-shell mixed in with the linguine. But that didn't bother me. I thought the dish was excellent. The rest of the menu was also well priced.

The problems I had were, they don't tell you if you pay with a card, which I'm sure most people do these days, they charge a service fee. I've never paid a service fee before so I don't know if it's based on the amount of your check or a fixed amount. Mine was $3.15 Unfortunately, for my server, I subtracted the fee from her tip and here's why...

The second, more disturbing, issue I had was our server's hands. It looked like she had very dirty fingernails. When I first noticed it, I thought I was seeing things. I asked another person in my party to look and give me their opinion. They said it appeared my observation was correct.

If it wasn't for those two issues, I would have had no problems eating there again. I could have even gotten around the service fee by always taking cash. But I can't do the dirty fingernails...

2 stars only because our server was friendly and he tried! We were seated at a table with dirty linens and a big gray hair on the table so we flipped the cloth over. The other side wasn’t much better but was at least hair free. The other tables appeared to be just as dirty. I knew the. We should’ve left but all the good reviews kept us there. Then we we’re served the most watered down tea I’ve ever seen so we requested water instead. The salad was small and full of brown and white pieces. Still we stayed because the reviews! I was able to only saw through half of my steak and then had to spit out almost every piece because of the low quality meat that was served. Hands down, the worst dinner I’ve ever bought and believe me, I have eaten some bad food! I am amazed that this place was voted most romantic also! The corner by the restroom at other restaurants in town is more romantic. I however...

Well....not bad, overall. The server was friendly & helpful and I was served quite rapidly. The soup ....surprisingly good. The chef did a remarkable job of taking the "canny-ness" out of the obviously canned vegetables and their addition of herbs and spices was on point for a well blended and subtle flavor. The rolls they served....those were awesome! I had the shrimp scampi but with a twist. I ordered it with a garlic butter sauce instead of the lemon butter. Here's where I feel the chef cheated a bit, it tasted as though he just tried to add enough garlic(which had had most of its flavor cooked out, add garlic LAST!!!) to cover the lemon. I'm sorry, but it didn't work. The shrimp were a bit overdone also but not inedible. Overall, it wasn't a bad meal, just not an entirely great one, but fair for the price. I will go back again, the "surf and turf" (steak, shrimp, and lobster tail) sounds VERY...