Cork 'n Cleaver — Restaurant in Evansville

We normally don't leave these type of reviews, but last nights dining out left a bad taste in our mouth to say the least. I've never had Cork 'n Cleaver so my wife and I decided to try it on a Monday evening around 5:15. The host seated us as soon as we walked in the door. That is about where the positives ended. We waited for our server to acknowledge us for almost five minutes. We were handed a cleaver with only the partial menu printed on it. We had to ask for different menu options. John, the waiter, was very brief and inattentive. He said he would be back out with bread to go ahead and help ourselves to the salad bar. John never returned with bread the entire meal. Our prime rib dinner was served by someone else and we never heard from John. Potato had a large black knot in the center of it. The 8 oz. Prime Rib was a sliver of a piece of meat, if I'm being generous. No one checked to see if the food was correct, tasted alright, anything. We were drinking water. John walked by one time to refill my glass. I drink water. I was empty quickly. After we got our food from the salad bar, we watched the salad bar attendant refilling the bar from bulk factory containers right on top of the old food. Cottage cheese spooned straight from the original container on top of the cottage cheese that had already been sitting out on the salad bar. At least take it to the back and refill the container with new on bottom and older on top. No telling how long the original cottage cheese had been sitting on bottom. At the end of the meal, John comes back to the table and apologizes for not getting back to use. He said he was busy with a bigger party and hands us our check. He was too busy to check on us the entire dinner, but was not too busy to stand over us and wait for us to hand him our payment, tip and signature. I know my measly $40 dinner does not contribute at all to your bottom dollar, but we work hard for our money the same as you do. We expect good food and quality service when we go out to eat. We expect something a little extra and a little more when dining out and I'm paying someone else generously to do that. That.......was not even close to what we received at Cork 'n Cleaver. I left our constructive feedback written on the back of our receipt, so when the manager runs the numbers for the evening and John complains about his tip, he...

First time in evansvilles with my boyfriend. We decided we wanted a steak and wanted a real steak house besides the chains. We found cork n cleaver and the reviews were amazing and we though hey we'd give it a chance.

When we walked in a sour smell hit my nose. It was kind of like old fish. Fish was on the menu so i figured it was just me not being super used to the smell of fresh fish or cooking fish.

When we got there the hostess asked if we had a reservation and looked visibly shocked that we didn't. We just took this as a good sign at the time.

We were seated. Our waiter was prompt and amazing. He was super attentive, prompt, and very helpful. We had no problem there.

The menu wasn't huge but it looked slandered for a steakhouse.

The salad bar was good with a wide variety of things to add. However there was a giant piece of moldy lettuce chuck in my salad. Should of walked away there but i didn't. My fault.

I was excited to try the prime rib as it was something i had never had before. Man was i surely disappointed. My cut was majority fat. There was some okay parts of the cut but i had to cut around a ton of fat. I know they are supposed to have some fat on them but this waw just a poor cut of meat. My boyfriends ribeye(which was not what he ordered but was starving and didn't want to wait for anything to be fixed.) Was mostly the same. He had to cut off a ton of fat to get to the okay parts.

I felt ripped off. The cuts were bad. And way over priced for what we got. Had they been good cuts the prices would of been worth it but it just wasn't.

Even then the air in the building seem poorly circulated. The bathroom was "made" for two people to be in there but only one stall. It was poorly lit and the ceiling panels were crumbling just like everywhere else.

If we weren't both starving we would of went somewhere else. I could of gone to one of the chain places down the street and gotten better food for a better price.

It's only getting two stars because the waiter...

There's a lot of charm to an expensive restaurant that's been frozen in time for decades. The decor is "a ranch by way of the 1970s" with lots of low lighting. Even over the salad bar, which raises concerns when one has intentionally dim lights over food left out in the open.

Went during early bird specials and received exemplary service. Our waiter went out of his way multiple times.

Everything about Cork 'n Cleaver feels like it's a $10-per-person hole in the wall that's been in operation since the 80s, but it's a $$$-expensive restaurant. It feels like their core audience are people who were brought there as kids in the 80s and are still coming back.

They have a core demographic and not that many seats to fill, so they don't have to try as hard to look "fancy" or give a hoot about graphic design. There's something to admire about that. Unfortunately, they still operate at a price point that implies they also aren't resting on their laurels in regards to food, but the food disagrees in a few areas.

To that note: having recently been to a steakhouse of comparable price point, there was a lack of finesse and skill on the food side of C'nC. Some items on the salad bar were oddly roughly chopped (e.g. bite-sized hunks of red onion) and the grilled salmon was cooked within an inch of its life, rendered dry and seasoned only by the lemon wedge. It should be a sacrilege to think "this needs salt" at a $$$ restaurant, yet...

When Logan's Roadhouse serves up a better seasoned and cooked cut of salmon than a place like this, it might be time to reevaluate cooking methods/skills. Salmon can be tricky, especially in a situation where someone's maintaining multiple cuts on a grill at once. I've botched salmon before myself, I get it, but I still can't get away from the fact their early bird cut is priced on par with chain steakhouse salmon and yet those consistently deliver.

I had a fun time, but I also wouldn't touch the menu outside of early bird specials and...