Cottonwood Grille — Restaurant in Boise

Quite honestly, we were expecting more from our dining experience, especially given the many positive reviews and higher-end prices.

The first person we met was the maitre de and her welcoming felt cold as she simply asked, "Is there something I can help you with?" Not, good evening, welcome to the Cottonwood, etc." Is there something I can help you with...like I was making a demivery or I was lost...very odd to say the least.

The atmosphere, however, is excellent and if you're fortunate enough to be seated near the fireplace, you'll probably have a better experience. Even though we made a reservation and had requested seating near the fireplace, our table wasn't ready when we arrived and despite a table being open in front of the fireplace, we were seated off to the side. Oddly, that table remained open for another 20 minutes before another party was seated there.

The waitress was very attentative and checked in every so often, which is what we expected from a higher-end restaurant. That was a good part of our experience.

What was mediocre to say it nicely was the food. The salads were extremely plain and didn't seem fresh. The soups were not served hot. The calamari appetizer we ordered came very quickly and dissapointedly, was not of quality...it was soft and chewy, the kind you might find at a chain seafood restaurant. I think they don't make this appetizer when ordered. No lemon and no crispness as they served no tentacles. The sauce was bland and made the calamari even softer.

The baked brie appetizer was excellent.

The main dish of halibut I ordered was served luke warm and the fish was slightly overcooked, not what I expected at $37.

The chicken cordon bleau was very dry and the Italian ham, not Prosciutto as is usually the case, was too overpowering.

All in all, I rated the experience as average because the wines and mixed drinks were great and our waitress was attentative. I'm not sure why we weren't seated by the open table near the fireplace, especially since we arrived on time and had to wait 15 minutes, unless they have a special seating policy unknown to us. When I made the reservation, Merrill said they don't save specific tables, but she said she would make a note on our reservation. Well, that note obviously wasn't made or if it was, wasn't considered. I felt like we were treated differently perhaps as the people who were eventually seated at that fireplace table were older and apparently well to do by how they were dressed.

The serving of luke warm food is unacceptable though, especially since the restaurant seemed well staffed. At no time did a manager make the effort to visit any tables, including ours, to ask how our meals were. In contrast, any time we dine at an Applebees, someone other than our server always asks how our experience is going.

We might try Cottonwood Grille again as all this may have been just an off night. We genuinely liked the atmosphere and felt it should have been a much better experience. Maybe going for drinks and only appetizers in the bar area would have...

Who doesn't like happy hour? I'm always looking for great happy hour apps and today's happy hour spot is Cottonwood Grille. It was my first time at this venue. I know it's been around for a while. It's never been brought up as an option before so I'm happy that my friend suggested it.

Walking in, we were instantly greeted. The host asked us if we were doing happy hour. Of course we were so we were told to head to the lounge area. We were quite early so the venue was pretty empty. The bartender saw us and got us taken care of with water and menus.

After looking over the drink menu, I asked Max, our server, if they had mocktails. Non were listed in the menu so Max got creative and made one for me. It was a strawberry lemonade mojito. Boy was it good! I tried really hard not to finish too quickly. It was tasty!

Max took our orders. I ordered a few appetizers and was concerned he couldn't remember it all. I was wrong, Max did a great job! I ordered a shrimp taco, a grilled shrimp cocktail, a cup of clam chowder, calamari frita and croquettas. I wanted to try a little of everything! Max got everything delivered and not one mistake!

The clam chowder was thick and hearty. It had big pieces of clam and potatoes. It was perfectly seasoned! It was on the luke warm side. I would have like if it could have been a little hotter. The grilled shrimp cocktail was my favorite! You get a huge lemon slice and cocktail sauce with it. The shrimp was fresh! And when you added the cocktail sauce and lemon juice...... so good! The calamari was tender and savory. It could have been fried a tad longer. The crust on the outside was still soft so it was one noted in texture. Even though the calamari were kind of soft, it still was delicious! It also came with cocktail sauce and both together was fantastic! It was my first time having croquettas. The filling was soft and the exterior was crunchy. It was nice to be able to try them out. They were tasty but the soft to crunchy ratio was a little off for me. I would have liked more crunch to them. My last appetizer was the shrimp taco. The shrimp was savory and tender! It was topped with radish, onion and cilantro for a crunchy texture. All the elements worked! It was the perfect sized shrimp taco. I might have gotten a lot of appetizers but I'm happy I did! They were all great!

Excited that I got to try this joint out. Cottonwood Grille is one of my mother law's favorite restaurants. I can see why! The venue is stunning. The staff is friendly. And you can't beat the happy hour prices that they have! I'm looking forward to coming bask and having dinner with my husband here. I think we'll be in for a real...

Cottonwood Grille ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Cottonwood Grille is one of my all-time favorite restaurants. The food and service is always excellent, and they have one of the best patios in the entire Treasure Valley. MW and I visited on 4/15/21.

I ordered Beef Stroganov ($23) - Tender morsels of beef slow cooked with onions and Cremini mushrooms in a rich sour cream sauce, served over fettuccine. This is a dish that is not always on the menu. I ordered it once years before and it was served with Elk instead of beef. Both times, it was the best beef stroganoff I have ever had. It’s a generous portion that made two meals for me. Everything about this dish was perfection. There were generous portions of tender, well-seasoned meat. The noodles were perfectly cooked. There was just the right amount of sour cream.

MW ordered North Atlantic Sea Scallops ($31) - Fresh sea scallops, panseared golden, served on braised spinach with cappellini pasta in a creamy Saffron sauce. This was a little bland until MW asked for more Saffron sauce, which made all the difference.

Both entrées came with soup or salad. Soup options that day were Tomato Basil, French Onion or Red Bean Chorizo. The owner/chef is Basque so the latter is always on the menu. The salad options were Mixed Green or Wedge Caesar. We both chose the Mixed Green with house-made Blue Cheese dressing, which came with blue cheese crumbles in it. The salads were outstanding! The bread that was served with dinner was Basque bread that was made in the house. It was delicious.

The Cottonwood Grille is one of the only restaurants in town that has a pastry chef. They had six desserts on the menu with three additional ones that were specials. By that time of the evening, we were both so focused on our conversation that I neglected to take photos until we had already partially demolished our desserts. I ordered the Mixed Berry Cobbler ($7). MW ordered the Crème Brûlée ($7.) Both were among the best versions of those desserts that we’ve ever had.

I forgot to take a picture of the dessert menu, but the rest of the menus are posted. The Cottonwood Grille has a menu that changes seasonally but there are some dishes that are so loved that they are always on the menu, including one of my all-time favorites and the first entree I ever ordered here, the Chicken Gorgonzola Tortellini. The Cottonwood Grille also has one of the nicest wine by the glass menus in the area.

Highly...