Coach & Four — Restaurant in Roanoke

Took my wife and daughter out for what we thought would be a “nice” dinner post-Valentine’s Day. We had our eye on Coach and Four for some time and finally decided to give it a try. TLDR: We didn’t find the experience commensurate with the end price.

We’ve been to steakhouses all over and have a pretty decent swath to judge from. By no means was I expecting this to be The Palm. We went in with realistic expectations, but unfortunately, the experience left us underwhelmed.

First thing I judge a “nicer” restaurant by is their drinks. I always order an Old Fashioned and nine times out of ten it is a harbinger of what’s to come. This was poorly balanced and lacked the smooth depth an Old Fashioned should have. I choked down about a third of it, only to avoid a complete waste. In hindsight, I should have sent it back.

Second thing for me is the quality of the French Onion Soup. Granted it came in a crock with a lot of melted cheese, but something was off with the flavor. There was an unexpected bitterness to the broth, almost as if it had been over-reduced or made with the wrong type of onion. And who puts cheap, bagged seasoned salad croutons in their French Onion soup??? Tossing in generic, pre-packaged croutons completely disrupted the texture and added an artificial, stale taste.

The salads were standard. I will say it was nice to be able to choose the added toppings. That was a nice touch. Their ranch was on-point and one of the better I’ve had in the area. I do have to give kudos to that!

The entrees were OK. My wife and daughter both enjoyed their Fillets just fine. I will say the Delmonico for me was too thin…maybe a ½ inch cut at best. When getting a steak like that, I’m used to at least an inch cut which adds to the overall flavor and texture of the beef. The croquettes were downright awful—dense, flavorless, and a clear miss. I struggled through two bites before giving up entirely. Have no idea what these were, but all I can say is stay away from them! We did end up stealing some of our daughter’s fries and those were very good. Of course we’re partial to the thicker spiral fries and those delivered.

The final challenge was the pace of service. It was an hour and fifteen minutes from when we were seated until we got our entrees. Multiple times other servers came over to check on us and refill drinks. Don’t know if it was because our server was over-extended between two rooms or what, but we felt forgotten at times. At the 50-minute mark we were told our steaks would be right out. That didn’t happen for another 25 minutes. All the while, our daughter was getting hangry—to put it mildly. Maybe offer bread in advance of the entrees to help tide over if things are running behind?

The end check with tip and everything came to just shy of $170 for the three of us and that didn’t include dessert because at that point, dessert wasn’t even a consideration—we were just ready to leave.

I had high hopes after reading so many glowing reviews and genuinely wanted to be among those singing its praises. Unfortunately, that just wasn’t our experience. I’m only writing this review to offer an honest assessment...

I do love the food, but the archaic atmosphere, decor, and slow service always make me hesitate to stop.

The table cloths are hideous. The booths are so narrow that I find myself being squeezed before the second course. The Mid Century Modern chairs and accoutrements are fine. The chairs are very comfortable, actually. Shed the table cloths and turn up the lights. You have a beautiful set of rooms.

Tonight, I was served those awful Mrs. Schubert's dinner rolls, which have always had a stale texture and taste wherever they are served, but tonight they added cold to the mix. Opening package after package of foil-wrapped butter was tiresome just to gather a reasonable lump to not melt on my cold, stale bread. Bring back the piping hot French loaf and a dollop of whipped butter on a dish.

The bacon-wrapped scallops with tarragon sauce are always top shelf. I savored every bite. The salad was fresh and delicious. The bleu cheese dressing is one of the best I have had. The wonky presentation whereas the server completes your salad by presenting a lazy Susan with bacon, cheese, croutons, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and hot peppers is absurd and annoying. Just make the salad with all of the above in the kitchen and set it in front of me. Please.

The filet was fine. The bearnaise was okay. Again, though, peeling back the foil on those toilsome butter pats allowed my lukewarm baked potato to be cold by the time I freed up a sizable dollop. The peppermill that was presented with the salad was not offered with the potato, unfortunately. A baked potato requires it. PLEAEE, just put a pepper mill and sea salt grinder on every table.

My biggest complaint was the absence of my server for long time periods that left me wanting for water and the fulfillment of several unforeseen requests that came to bear. This was not the fault of my particular server, it is the fallout from the terrible amount of nonsense tasks that are heaped upon all of the servers to provide this deranged array of tasks that I have already mentioned. I experience this absence of service every time that I visit.

As I said before, drop the crazy service extras and just be present for all of your guests. The food is very good and that is what we have all come for. A "present" server can be readily available to make sure the bread and potatoes are hot in a timely manner. Drop the"kitchen shortcut" frozen rolls and foil-wrapped butter. For every extra step that you have heaped on the servers you have skipped vital steps in the kitchen. These truths are obvious to savvy guests and a detriment to your...

Just had Thanksgiving dinner at Coach & Four. I cannot adequately describe the poor quality of this meal, but I think it would suffer in comparison to a Swanson TV dinner. Their Thanksgiving meal consisted of a tossed salad of iceberg lettuce with two cherry tomatoes, a piece of turkey loaf (the slice folded in half in an effort to conceal the fact that it’s a circle of compressed turkey product) lying on top of a spoonful of Stove Top (or some other boxed product) stuffing, a tablespoon or so of runny instant mashed potatoes, a scrap of canned ham, green beans, a teaspoonful of sweet potatoes, a Sister Schubert’s yeast roll, and a slice of boxed pumpkin pie with a teaspoon of whipped cream. When I asked if they could hold the ham, our server told me that all the plates had already been made up, which is pretty interesting. She never inquired about our opinion of the meal, but as we were leaving, I did tell her that the food was bad, but I appreciated her good service, and I assured her that she would not see the poor food quality reflected in her tip. (I tipped 25% because of her upbeat, friendly service and the fact that she was working on a holiday.) She replied, “Really?! Everyone else is loving it!” I can’t imagine that too many people were excited about turkey loaf and instant potatoes, but there’s no accounting for tastes. I also ordered a watery cocktail (supposedly rum, peach Schnapps, cranberry and orange juices) for which they charged $13.95. With tip, my bill came out to be just over $80. I volunteered at RAM House this morning, serving Thanksgiving lunch, and that meal was far superior to this one in every respect. I’m not a Coach and Four regular, and I only made a reservation there because all other local restaurants were booked. This meal would not encourage me to try it again. Sub-K & W Cafeteria quality for eight times the K & W price....