Mediocre at best. Service was decent but needs improvement. What is billed as a upscale BBQ oriented restaurant. Has a menu that's a bit all over the place an not very focused on BBQ. However one can get past that if only the food was better. As a Chef I tend to be a little more critical but you don't need to be a Chef. To recognize many of the basic mistakes that there's no excuse for in the first place. An when your price to food ration is on the higher side of the middle, you better not have those basic mistakes happening.
My meal consisted of a Bowl of Clam Chowder and the Sweet Thai Glazed Salmon for $19.99 described as such.
Spinach, golden raisins, diced tomatoes, candied almonds, blood orange vinaigrette.
Which had none of that on the plate because that's not was brought out to me. Instead it seems I received was the Atlantic Salmon for $23.99 because that's what I was charged for.
The Clam Chowder to put it bluntly was Amateur hour. The Rue was raw, had very few clams, no potatoes, I think it was tiny pieces of carrots and resembled more like a thick bland cream soup for $8.99 for a bowl, a rather small bowl at that. Technically you might be able to call it Clam Chowder but from a guy that loves a good bowl of Clam Chowder, I would be hard pressed to call it that. Now I might not have received the type of salmon that I ordered but whoever was running the grill, cooked it perfectly. If only that person had cooked the rice pilaf. Which was a bit over cooked, on the mushy side and lacked seasoning.
The vegetables were cooked perfectly, with just right bite without being raw but a little seasoning can go a long way.
Now I wasn't alone, my wife had the fish an chips and my daughter had the chicken strips.
What was a head scratcher between the two was the French Fries. The chicken strips and fish were deep fried just fine but the fries was interesting. My daughter's fries golden in color and a nice crunch. My wife's on the other hand was under cooked, greasy and limp. Which tells me that whoever was running the fryers had dropped frozen fries into a fryer not up to temp yet and in a rush. Pulled them out early to push the table order, a very rookie move.
Now mistakes happen but if you have a kitchen chef who is checking food quality.
A watchful expeditor or experienced server, many of these simple and rookie mistakes can be fixed before it gets too the table.
Once it gets to the table, you can lose not one customer but dozens. Quality is everything!
Now I'm going to chock most of this up to a inexperienced kitchen and service staff in a restaurant newly opened with not enough or the best of training. So perhaps much of this will work itself out in time, sooner rather than later of course.
So I'm going to give the restaurant another try in 6 to 8 months This is a C grade go at your own risk restaurant right now.
For me, it's over priced for the portion size and quality right now. I can get over the price and portion size if the quality was at a A+ level.
More training is highly recommended both in the kitchen and the serving staff. An frankly if you're going to bill yourself with the goal to create, serve and enjoy awesome BBQ.
The menu should be more BBQ oriented then. It's ok to have a few items for those who may not be BBQ enthusiasts. It's even ok to go for being a upscale BBQ restaurant but you better have your food dialed in then. So hopefully this review will be taken to heart and used to improve the restaurant and in 6 to 8 months we shall see. I truly wish the owners of the restaurant to succeed but like everything in life. Time...
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