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Review content:
My wife and I enjoyed her birthday dinner here a week ago. While the hostess was friendly and helpful, I was disappointed that her special occasion was not acknowledged by staff (like Ruth's Chris and Fleming's do) after I had indicated her birthday when making our reservations online at OpenTable_com. Our server was attentive, although the meal was paced a bit slowly. The appetizer, a crab and shrimp fondue was delicious, but came with too little bread and too much of a fried cracker for dipping. A real disappointment and surprise, given the Scholar's Inn heritage as a great bakery. We also were surprised that delicious bread was stingily ""upon request"", where a small portion was served, and then replenished as needed, rather than provided in a generous supply left at our table to consume as we pleased. Both of our entrees were good, but had way too many flavors and textures thrown together, indicating a ""more is more"" approach by the chef. My eggplant tower, literally at 5"" tall, had three accompanying sauces or vegetables in the sauce, breading on the eggplant, melted cheese between the eggplant ""patties"" and more. Each was good by itself, but together it was an unfortunate goulash where too many good things made up one underwhelming entree. Based on other reviews, we looked forward to our dessert, the Blondie, and weren't disappointed. Though the dessert menu sounds somewhat uninspired, the manner in which ours was prepared was unique and delicious--a great end to our meal. Dessert was accompanied by decaf coffee no better than that found at any average restaurant in town, also below our expectations for the Scholar's Inn reputation. However, our bottle of Gundlach Bunschu merlot, at 50% on Mondays, was wonderful, and the ""take the bottle home"" policy of Scholar's allowed us to continue enjoying it the following evening as well. All in all, very good appetizer and dessert, but entrees that tried much too hard. Future visits will be for dessert or breads only.
Pros: Breads, desserts and wine list
Cons: Entrees that are overwrought and try too hard to impress
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