2 /5 William Nessola: TL;DR - Great views with mediocre food and subpar service.
Me and my colleagues were in town for business and wanted to go somewhere upscale after a week of daily overtime. We made the 45 minute drive from Dupont. We had a reservation for 5:00 pm and were seated after only a few minutes. We had water poured for us and our server brought bread to the table. The bread wasnt anything special, could have used some oil to dip it in.
After a bit of a wait, our waiter was knowledgeable when asked about the fish on the menu, he did a good job explaining the options etc. I opted for the flank steak 3 course meal with Caesar salad, flank steak and jar of key lime desert. I got an additional cup of tomato soup and a beer. One coworker got blackened halibut with peach salsa and a beer, the other coworker got corn chowder, blackened halibut with the lemon orgeno seasonsing with an unsweetened tea. He also ordered the calamari as an appetizer.
The views were awesome -- the reason you come to this place and not somewhere else. It was a rainy, drizzly day but the views still did not disappoint.
Our drinks were brought out pretty quickly and so was my soup and salad. The Caesar salad was lightly dressed (one of my coworkers commented on it as well) but I thought it was good -- they added real chunks of bacon that made for a good bite. Tomato soup was just decent. I traded spoons fulls of soup with my coworker -- we both agreed that the corn chowder tasted like nothing with a slight corn aftertaste. It required salt and pepper to impart any flavor.
Service wasnt great. Our server was nice enough, and made sure we had waters but never asked us if we wanted another beer and never refilled the unsweetened tea. The appetizer we put in never came out - we told him not to worry about it after the dessert came out. Checkins were very infrequent for the hour and twenty minutes we were at the restaurant.
The food was plated very well - it looked appetizing, aided by the huge windows and lots of natural light.
The flavor just wasnt there, though. Food was chronically underseasoned -- all three at our table agreed. When I went to add salt to my steak, the salt was clumpy due to moisture and when I shook it the plug on the bottom came off and showered salt all over me, the table and my food. My companions thought it was hilarious; I was a little bit salty about the whole affair. When I examined the shaker it was obvious that the plug at the bottom was stripped out and didnt grip well but that didnt stop it from being put out for service. My server helpfully offered to replace the salt shaker- I told him I thought I had enough to last for a lifetime.
The cornbread pudding tasted better than I thought it would - I was expecting a soupy mess but it was actually very similar to stuffing. It wasnt that great, however. The green beans we all agreeded seemed rather undercooked. The peach salsa was diced very coarsely and the lemon oregeno seasoning added little flavor. The fish was advertised as blackened but appeared much lighter.
When the dessert came out I was a little disappointed at the portion size. I offered my companions a bite and both declined: "That looks like it only has two spoon fulls, I dont want to eat all your dessert." The texture was closer to a thick pudding vs a key lime pie and the ratio of graham cracker crust to pie filling was off - it needed more crust.
For price, I was OK with the three course early dinner option for $33 -- I felt that was a strong value. My companions who paid quite a bit more werent as satisfied with their value for the money.
I dont like giving out two star reviews but this went from a questionable 3 star to a solid 2 star with the service faux pas and the lack of flavor.
Moral of the story: a nice place to see but I wouldnt want to eat there.
