Two of us for dinner. We made reservations on OpenTable that morning for 7:15pm, which was convenient. Upon arrival, they asked us to wait for about 2-3 minutes while they set the table. That was fine.
We started with the Crab cake. It was delicious. Very flaky with a nice crunchy crust. A very small amount of a mango sauce was served along side it (not enough sauce)
We asked our server to suggest a popular Cabernet Sauvignon to go with our meal. She was not well informed on their wine list. I ultimately chose the Sebastini, but was a bit disappointed with it, as it seemed to less earthy & softer than Cabernet's from Alexander Valley that I am familiar with. Later, i read that it contained 11% merlot, which explains its softness.
I ordered the Prime-Rib king cut, Medium Rare. It was quite good and mostly medium rare. It was served Au Jus with Horseradish sauce. Some of the meat in the center was closer to Medium or higher, but I was fine with that. I ordered a side of Au Gratin potatoes, which were very good. This was a LOT of food.
My wife ordered the small Filet, medium. It was coated in a peppery crust. My wife did not like the crust, but I tried a bite and enjoyed it. I wonder if you can ask for 'no pepper crust'? She ordered a side of Mashed potatoes, that she said were too cold and was disappointed. It was a very large portion of potatoes. We didn't bother with telling our server... it was too much food anyway.
We ordered two additional side items: Creamed Spinach and Sauteed mushrooms. Both were just fine, not great, but fine. The spinach was very rich and the mushrooms were a bit boring. We ordered too much food. Maybe if we ordered less, we would have enjoyed the sides more.
The beef was good quality... definitely a high grade of USDA choice (or even better). This is better quality than you can get at the lower-end chains like Houstons, JAlexander, etc. By the way, this restaurant is the up-scale sibling of JAlexander, they are owned by the same company.
Finally, we ordered two slices of Key Lime Pie to take home. Very good pie... with a generous amount of real whipped cream on top.
The place was quite noisy. The bar was very full. It would have been impossible to have a drink before hand. It seemed like it was a trendy place to be seen in Germantown, which is unfortunate. It had a "snobby" feeling to it... for no reason other than the clientele. The dining room atmosphere/decorations were fine... lights were low and the furnishings were over-sized and comfortable.
The service was fine. Not great, but fine. It would be nice if our server was better prepared to suggest our wine pairing, since this is a moderately upscale restaurant.
I think this is a perfectly good restaurant if you want moderate fine dining. Their execution was mostly pretty good. It's not at the level of Capital Grill, Folks Folly or Ruth's Chris. The price point is about $10 less per entree than those places. It is most definitely a step above places like JAlexanders, Raffertys, Houstons, Outback, Long Horn, etc. It would be nice if the dining room was a little larger, so that the noise would not be so high.
We'll be back a couple of times per year... mostly for the Prime Rib, the location, and the nice atmosphere. Next time, we will order less food! read more