Croft — Restaurant in LaFayette

Wow. What a beautiful experience at the Croft! Not only was the view stunning, but the food, service and drinks were delectable!

For starters, we had the lump crab hushpuppies and smokey mac and cheese. Personally, I am not a fan crab—it’s typically too strong and overwhelming in the seafood department, but these hush puppies were PHENOMENAL! The lump crab was baked into them (not just simply placed on top) in the most perfect ratio to the rest of the batter, not oily or too dense, and the remoulade topped it off perfectly.

The Smokey Mac and cheese was cheese overload in the best way possible. The bleu cheese breadcrumb crumble and Smokey bacon were delicious and the perfect additions to the creamy sauce.

The Grains Salad was fresh and crisp, and the soft boiled beet pickled egg was cooked to perfection. As for the braised beef short ribs…they were fall-off-the-bone and simply incredible. The demi glace was rich and flavorful, and the candied vegetables superb. Cheesy grits balanced out the dish and made for a hearty meal!

For dessert, we got the Campfire Bread Pudding. The bread pudding itself was really yummy, with a nice crust and fluffy inside, however, it could have been much hotter (came out a bit cold/luke warm). Overall, it was good, but had a bit too much toffee syrup for my liking—a nice drizzle would have done the job just right. I likely would not order again.

Not pictured is the Just Dance drink. Balanced just perfectly for a great taste similar to a margarita!

The service itself was a bit slow, but I am sure they are working out the kinks to a new opening. Our waitress and other staff were great at being attentive, answering our questions and providing some wonderful recommendations.

With the hotel being so new and us being one of just a few tables, the ambiance was very quiet and peaceful, with a beautiful view of the mountains and soon-to-be pool. I can foresee though when it gets more crowded that the ambiance will be much louder and likely echo-y.

Overall, incredibly impressed with the meal and excited to be back for breakfast in...

The menu had a good variety of interesting choices. To start, we had the smoky mac n cheese and lump crab hush puppies. The mac and cheese was just ok until you got one of the rare pieces of bacon, which really elevated the flavor. The lump crap hush puppies are a little harder to describe. They were definitely not the consistency of a traditional hush puppy...they were softer? More moist? For my main course, I had the flat-iron steak. The steak was just ok. I would have appreciated a more seasoned meat. The chimichurri was not enough to elevate the flavor for me. We also had the beef short ribs with grits. This seemed an interesting pairing, but was actually pretty tasty with the vinegrette reduction.

We ate outside and the temperature was for the most part very nice. It actually started to get a little chilly later on in the night. The mountain view while dining was picturesque and made the experience that more enjoyable. Definitely recommend.

We also dined here for brunch and had the French Toast. This entree was a miss for me. The menu suggested that the bread was "thick-sliced" brioche, but the slices seemed quite thin to me. The flavor of the french toast was quite good, but I'm not a fan of a more custardy textured toast. It rings as soggy to me. I understand there are those who like this, but it's just not my preference. I would order again.

Overall, the experience was great and the food was ok. If the food was on par with the experience, it...

We arrived at 7:50 for an 8:00 reservation. Despite having plenty of available seating, we were told we had to wait until our reservation time to be seated- no big deal, we understood that could be staffing related. We were seated and immediately ordered our appetizer, and meal since it was a later dinner. We waited 45 minutes for our appetizer (mac and cheese) and an hour and 40 minutes for our meal. We didn't order anything exceptional- salmon and a burger, and it was mediocre at best. This was also my birthday dinner (which was noted in our reservation) and that was not acknowledged at all. Later in the night (11:45), the restaurant called our room at the hotel and woke us up to inquire about a group leaving an unpaid bill. They told us a group left our room number on their ticket, but a different last name. Again, not a huge deal but we felt it was unprofessional to wake up a hotel guest at a resort over a matter that did not concern us and could have been addressed in the morning.

The only positive was our server, Marcus, who went above and beyond to make our lengthy experience pleasant. Thank...