My wife and I live down the street from this restaurant and found it in the entertainment guide so we thought we'd give it a shot. Not joking - we are going to try contact the Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsey show to see if they will come out, because this place is a perfect candidate! The moment we walked in the door we thought we'd stepped into a timewarp. The place wasn't in bad condition, but holy crap you'er surrounded by stuff no one makes any more, including a creepy foyer phone strip complete with manikin in a 50's dress (phones are gone). ??!! The place is very big - there were only five tables taken including ours. Soup was OK, salad bar had fresh items but dressing was totally bland. I ordered a New York strip Oscar style - figured that would be right up their ""retro"" alley. The steak was tough, sure as hell wasn't a NY strip, tasted like a low-grade sirloin, and the Oscar toppings tasted like canned grab meat and powdered sauce (certainly wasn't Hollandaise). My wife's fish was edible, but fishy tasting. The owner stopped by (very nice guy btw) and asked how everything was - I didn't want to lie, so I told him my steak was tough and I wasn't enjoying it. He offered, so I sent it back. Sending a meal back is always a bummer because it means waiting while your companion eats their meal. The 2nd try was indeed better, but wasn't memorable by any means. Oh, my dish came with a mashed potato and bacon cake - sounds good right? Wrong!! Taste and texture of a early-80s TV dinner.These dinners aren't cheap mind you.
We wanted to like the place. It was seriously kitsch, but that could have ended up being charming. Owner and waiter we both very nice. But you could just feel the money being lost and bulldozers waiting to scrape the site. Both of us saw an entire episode of Kitchen Nightmares played out in our minds with every single typical mistake being made (right down to the overly complex and terribly outdated menu). If these guys ever do a makeover/reopening I will gladly give them another try, but until then I'll only glance that direction looking to see if they're still in business.
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