Crush — Restaurant in Chico

I've been here 3 times now and the quality of the food and service has been superior each time. This is definitely a perfect date night destination. The first time I came with a friend. We sat in the lounge area. I wasn't prepared for the prices that time so I stuck to an appetizer and soda. Though, the size of the appetizer (calamari) was perfect to feel full without having leftovers.

I came again with the same friend last month more prepared to spend money and it was absolutely worth it. We arrived around 9:30pm on a Saturday night. Their late night happy hour started at 10pm and the place had a fair amount of people. Not too many people, but enough that it was a tad difficult to hear my friend sitting across from me. Their happy hour drinks are $6 and are decently strong. The only thing that disappointed us this time was that after 10pm their kitchen largely shuts down. It wasn't a problem getting our entrees. However, we had been looking forward to getting a dessert my friend raved about and that was unavailable after 10pm. In hindsight, they did tell us the main menu wouldn't be served after 10pm and only their happy hour menu would be available after that. I just assumed the dessert would be on the happy hour menu.

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I came here for a date. We arrived early in the afternoon around 4pm. So we were present for their afternoon happy hour. It lasted until 6pm. Both menus were fully available. The restaurant was fairly empty when we arrived. By the time we left, around 6:30, the restaurant was fairly full. The waitress was attentive, gave us time when we needed it, and made sure we enjoyed our meal.

The prices reflect the high quality. The cheapest entree the last time I went was $19.50 and the most expensive, if I recall correctly, was $39. My favorite entree so far is the Chicken Parmigiana and cost $21. It was well worth it. I tried their truffle fries. I was a bit worried l might not like them because I've heard truffle oil can overwhelm a dish quite easily. I was blown away and the garlic aioli it was served with was perfect. They were available on the happy hour menu for $6.75. I absolutely...

It’s been a while since I’ve last eaten at Crush and my husband and I were looking forward to a rare date night. What a miserable experience. First it was extremely hot in the restaurant. Our server was complaining about the heat but said she really felt bad for the kitchen staff (I agree!). If your air conditioning can’t cool your restaurant, CLOSE! The bar was unable to make the first cocktail I ordered (a vesper martini, not hard. I make them at home) so I ordered another of my favorites (a lemon forward drink) but it was waaay too sweet (even with the addition of a slice of lemon), not at all refreshing like in other bars. My wine with dinner was cold an delicious. My husband didn’t care for his cocktail so ordered red wine with his meal. His first choice was unavailable so he selected another. It was actually very nice. The wines were the only positive thing about our meal. The carpaccio was lacking any seasoning or flavor but the frito misto was too highly seasoned (this is coming from a salt lover). The green, herbal dip and marinara with the frito misto were delicious. The Caesar salad was inedible, I took a few bites and gave up. The dressing was heavy and had too much anchovy, not enough lemon (or other acid) and had a strange aftertaste. Maybe the basil or sun-dried tomato ?? In a Caesar?? The lettuce was fresh and crispy. The presentation of the salad was beautiful. Our main course was the roasted chicken ravioli in a lemon cream sauce (again I took only a few bites). The sauce was nauseatingly heavy and lacking a lemon flavor. If you’re advertising a lemon cream sauce, perhaps add lemon? My husband has always been a fan of the Crush bolognese but tonight it was a complete miss. He packed it to go but I’m not sure he’s going to eat the remaining food. It was so miserably hot we passed on dessert and went to a local ice cream shop. That was the highlight of our evening. I don’t know what is wrong with Crush tonight but hopefully it was a rare occurrence. I won’t be back to find out. My date nights are important and this one was a...

It was a Friday night, and my two friends were dead set on prime rib. We all got on our phones and started calling all the places that came up in Google's search results, which landed us at Crush. The woman I spoke with on the phone confirmed that they were serving prime rib that Friday night, said it was $31/plate. She also explained the sides in really great detail, which only made us even hangrier than we already were. I asked if a reservation was necessary, the woman told me that there weren't any reservations available that night, but we'd have no problem finding a seat on the patio, at the bar, or in the lounge. PERFECT.. that's exactly what we wanted to hear. We jump in the car, drive down to West 2nd & Broadway, and luckily found a disabled spot (my friend is) across the street. We got lucky.. parking is a mess down there. Didn't even know they had valet 😶 So, up the elevator we went, right into the great of it all. The hostess was friendly got us a half booth in the restaurant. Our server brought water, took our drink orders, and when we told him what we were there for, got this blank "oh really, I KNOW WE DON'T SERVE PRIME RIB TONIGHT AND SO DOES EVERYBODY ELSE IN THIS PLACE... but I'ma go ahead and humor y'all and go check anyway" look on his face and walked off. Smart move on his part, I'm a monster when I'm hangry, and my two friends were just about to become legends. Our server returned, said they've never served prime rib on Friday nights (and also again how EVERYBODY KNOWS THEY DON'T SERVE PRIME RIB ON FRIDAY NIGHTS.. duh 🙄). Long story short, we got up and left. Don't even remember when he said they do serve prime rib. Didn't matter.. we were off to Logan's Roadhouse next. If you love prime rib, check out my...