It pains me to have to leave this review. I came here once before several months ago and was very…read moreimpressed. I had a fantastic espresso martini and the best brussel sprouts I've ever tasted! So I was excited to come try something else. On the plus side, the bathroom was so nicely decorated. It was also very clean.
I sat at the end of the bar, beside the little section of books. The bartender was nice. I ordered the Ember&Passion cocktail. Although it was pretty good, it was quite mild. Unexpected with the ingredients in it. I was surprised that the level of expected heat was not very detectable. I give it 7/10.
When I came here before in the winter, the temperature was perfect and I don't remember being too bothered that they don't have cocktail napkins. But yesterday it was quite warm in the restaurant and not having these napkins wasn't good. Nobody in the restaurant had any type of napkin under any drink! I noticed that just like mine, every glass of water from every patron had a puddle of condensation under the glass. Each time I picked up my glass of water, it would drip onto my food and clothes. My two menus got so wet. I suppose they made this decision to save themselves a lot of money.
As for the food: My parmesan truffle fries were excellent!! Hot, crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked in the middle. Best I've had in a long time. The Alabama white sauce on the side was just your typical sauce. It tasted just like every other Alabama white sauce that I've had so was not disappointing. But I actually ended up not using it because it was too thin and it didn't add anything to the fries. The fries were excellent enough on their own. I ordered my burger "pink" but there wasn't any pink to it, but I wasn't that bothered about it. Burger and the toppings were tasty, except for the fried green tomato. Looking closely at the picture, you can see that it was SO SMALL compared to the size of the burger. When a restaurant does that, don't they realize that it makes for a glaring disappointment?! It apparently came from near the end of the tomato, and not the middle. If you are going to offer a fried green tomato on a burger, then I feel as if you should only use the larger slices of the tomato, and save the smaller ends for maybe putting in salads. I've always been obsessed with fried green tomatoes. After having my first two bites of burger and still not reaching the tomato, I took it off to eat by itself. Sadly, it tasted terrible! I was surprised. Obviously, they didn't season the tomato or the batter. (Salt and pepper go a long way.) The burger toppings apparently made the tomato batter not only soggy, but also this strange thick texture. Like mushy and chewy at the same time. 1/10
Worst problem: FLIES!!! So many flies! When I just had my drink but no food yet, I noticed them but was not bombarded by them at that point. It wasn't until my food came. All of a sudden I was literally surrounded by them. They were everywhere! No exaggeration. I actually had to use only one hand to eat and the other hand to constantly move back and forth over my food. I eventually gave up and set the plate of some of my fries about 4 inches in front of my burger in order to hopefully draw the flies to the fries so that I could eat my burger. Unfortunately, after only four bites of my burger, when I set it down to take a drink of water, a fly landed on it within one second. Obviously, that was my last bite, and even when I was moving the plate closer to the end of the counter, two more flies landed on it. The glass of straws was inches from me. That, and the book closest to me seemed to be where they gathered to wait for their opportunity to dive bomb me. So many of them! It turned my stomach when I realized that I had been drinking from a straw with my water and I'm sure there had been flies on it before I got there. Every person that gets a straw in their drink at this restaurant has had a fly sitting on top of it. When the bartender told me about the desserts, it turned my stomach to think of just how many flies were in the kitchen. Had I known the fly situation was that bad when I first got my drink, I would have never stayed there, and I certainly would have never ordered food. I do think it is a real shame because the winter months are a totally different experience in that restaurant. But because of how horrible it was this time, I just can't ever come back.
