Fresh Chef Kitchen — Restaurant in Conover

Brunch July 13 at Fresh Chef in Newton, NC This is a restaurant that we frequent for dinner and we learned they has started serving brunch, we wanted to try it. We expected the same quality experience that we normally have with dinner. That’s not what happened.

We ordered a Virgin Bloody Mary and it was served with no garnish. We were told it’s because there was no alcohol. (Strange!) Waitress was very helpful. Easy fix. No problem. Order #1: California Omelet. Eggs had a funny texture and omelet was barely warm. Bacon in such long strips that you couldn’t cut it. Opened the omelet to deal with the bacon, and discovered that the eggs were so overcooked they were brown and crispy. Pretty gross. The potatoes obviously came from a bag and were also overcooked. Too dry to eat. The cheddar biscuit was ok, not great. it had been over-baked but not to the point of being dry. Texture was similar to a Bisquick biscuit. Overall, an epic fail. Returned the meal mostly untouched. Order #2: Traditional breakfast. Ordered 3 egg whites but was served 2 eggs over easy. Again the waitress was on it and quickly brought the egg whites. The egg whites were fried rather than scrambled (never had to specify scramble before but ok, let’s try something new.) About 5 minutes later they brought us another order of egg whites, those were not as good. Cooked in too much butter but edible. Potatoes on both orders were the same- too dry to eat. Cheddar biscuit on this order was very over-baked. It was so dark that it was just shy of turning black.

The waitress Elaine was very apologetic but there was really nothing she could do. The food was just bad. She comped the us the meal and beverage- which we appreciated. But we won’t be going...

Me and my wife came for lunch on Valentine's and ordered appetizers, drinks, and meals. Our drinks were okay, exactly what you would expect from a 10 dollar cocktail. The appetizer was delightful, we had the tuna tataki which I highly recommend. My wife ordered the gumbo, which was tasty but lacking for the price point. Portion size was excellent on this dish. I ordered the black and blue filet, medium rare, and received a more than well-done steak. In all honesty, I am not a person to critique service or food as I know there is a lot of pressure on restaurant workers for not great pay. I told the waitress my steak was overcooked, she graciously took it back to the kitchen to get me a new one without a complaint. The steak I then received was blue. It was undercooked to the point I was a little scared to eat it. However, being non-confrontational and already embarrassed enough with having to send back my food, I ate it anyway because this filet was $21 and I did not have another 15 minutes to wait for another steak. All of that said, they forgot the blue cheese topping on BOTH filets. Our service was excellent, the hostess was more than kind and I tipped our waitress well for her work, but this restaurant has some serious issues in...

The restaurant is really cute inside & was clean too. We were greeted immediately as we entered by 2 friendly employees. We were seated immediately & our server took our drink order about a minute after we were seated. Everyone was very friendly & efficient too.

However, the food was not good overall. I ordered chicken breast covered with green peppers, onions, & cheese. The chicken was seasoned, but had a bit of an overpowering sort of vinegar taste that was unpleasant. But the worst was that the chicken was tough and rubbery. My fork didn't fully go through the chicken without really pushing & it felt like cutting an overcooked cheap steak. I don't think I've ever had a tougher piece of chicken.

My husband ordered salmon piccata. It had somewhat of a strong alcohol taste, like when cooking with wine & you don't cook it off long enough for the alcohol to dissipate. The tomatoes had a consistency similar to gelatin.

The prices were reasonable and there was a good selection to the menu. I had a hard time deciding if this was a 2 or 3 star visit, but the friendliness & efficiency of the servers took the 2 star food to an overall 3 star experience. I'm not sure I'll be back, but I might give it another try...