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2012-08-05
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I found the entrance to the actual restaurant a bit confusing as once you exit the lift, you're in a small yet Willy Wonka-esque corridor that leads to the restaurant itself as well as the toilets, staircase and other miscellaneous areas. Once I found my way in, the ambience was not too bad and had a rustic American feel to it (albeit, it was a bit dark and the glow from the neon lights inside was overpowering). For starters we ordered macaroni and cheese and nachos with pulled pork. I couldn't
For starters we ordered macaroni and cheese and nachos with pulled pork. I couldn't help but feel a little repulsed eating the macaroni and cheese as the cheese used resembled what a gas station in the US would use, or what you would find on nachos when at a cinema. There were kidney beans in the macaroni too which was a nice touch but I think this was overshadowed by the cheese issue. The fact that I could also see the chef ladling the cheese out of a big pan didn't help matters either. The nachos were soggy and incredibly salty, although the pulled pork was very tasty and tender. The jalapeno seasoning was a bit too much for me as I can't tolerate much spice.
Next, we had ribs, pulled pork and an assortment of chicken wings (honey mustard dressing, buffalo and blue cheese).
The ribs looked much better than they tasted. Again, I was apprehensive to fully dig into the meal as the meat was pink. Considering they were pork ribs, I didn't want to wake up at 3am with a stomach ache because of eating what looked like under cooked ribs. The sauce was on the side of the ribs, which I found to be a bit strange as ribs usually have the sauce smothered on them.
The pulled pork was very good. I'd say this was the best dish of the night. Extremely tender, tasty and enjoyable to eat.
The chicken wings weren't anything to write home about. The honey mustard wings were the most tasty of the lot. However, I found that because the inside of the restaurant was quite dim, it was hard to identify which wing had which sauce on it.
Once the restaurant filled up (it was only half full for the whole night), it became incredibly noisy. I could hardly hear the person next to me let alone hear what someone opposite me had to say. This isn't really the restaurant's fault but if you're looking for a nice, quiet place to have a relaxing dinner, this is not the place to go. Imagine how crazy it would be if it were full!
The dessert menu looked quite enticing yet when we actually saw the desserts in the fridge near where we were sitting, they looked a bit sad. I'm not sure if this was due to the uncomplimentary lighting or whether they were in fact pre-packaged pies that they just heated up. We decided to stay away from the pies but someone from our party ordered some ice cream which they said was quite nice but I am not sure of what flavours they had. A waitress walked past us with an ice cream sundae which looked really good but we didn't order that.
As for the wait staff, I can't really tell you much about them as none of them seem interested in interacting let alone opening their mouths when food came to the table or when greeting customers. There was one waiter in particular who was very friendly and talkative but that was about it; quite surprising as this place is an American restaurant, I'd expect the waiters and waitresses to be outgoing and confident.
I left the restaurant looking for more food as I didn't enjoy my experience there. Paying close to $400 and still feeling hungry at the end is definitely not a good sign. Being apprehensive and not knowing what item was what due to the lack of light was uncomfortable and I just couldn't relax and enjoy the food we ordered.
Other American restaurants such as Ruby Tuesdays, Dan Ryans and BLT Burger trump this restaurant any day. I don't have any intention of giving this restaurant a second go or recommending it to friends. It wasn't worth the money, especially considering the amount of food I ate.
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