New Town Grille and Bar on Lakeshore in Mentor, Ohio
I don't understand this place. I have never had the GREAT meal there everyone always seems to have. Service, though, but only since Laurie had been there, is always phenomenal.
We had just returned from a three day stay across the northern border and decided the vacation was not yet quite over. Upon some debate and discussion it was determined that we would go to New Town. As we arrived, it appeared our server had, too. She intoned from across the restaurant that we could not yet see her, obviously meant she was not yet on the clock. But, being the good server she is, Laurie came over and got our drink orders anyway. Within five minutes our drinks were on the table and she was ready to work. We arrived at approximately 3:30 so this was nearly 1/2 hour before her shift was to start.
We ordered from the menu that is on a place mat, good idea in my mind. Less upfront expense and ease of cleaning. Anyway, I ordered a full rack of "baby back" ribs, another ordered the same in 1/2 rack, a chicken quesadilla was ordered along with a New Town Strip. Lastly one of us ordered a 2 lb snow crab leg dinner. This is where things got a bit dicey. Our salads came out on time but that was it.
The ribs and quesadilla came out first. The companion with the quesadilla was thoroughly impressed as it was huge and, according to her, quite tasty. My ribs were good sized and also tasty, at least the first bone. The second bone I attempted to eat was cold. I mean cold to the point of tasting refrigerated. The other rib person admitted to the coldness as well but said she didn't mind. I was disgusted that they should come out so. In fact, there has been talk of this new chef heading the kitchen, well, he needs to do better because he should know when something is heated through. It was still cold the second time it came out but I just saved it to take home and warm myself.
The steak came out, done exactly as another companion had wanted. She said it was wonderful. The next problem... Each dinner was supposed to have come with baked potato. They had still not arrived, AND our last companion was still awaiting his crab legs. Granted, this was probably an early order fr diner, but the menus were presented to us and nothing was stated on the lines of, "...we are not quite prepared, so it might take a little longer..." The length of time to get the crab legs was probably due to the water not yet having been boiled, but I have done crab legs in the microwave that came out just as good as in water. Finally our potatoes came out, actually only two of them. Then the crab legs came out, which were raved over due to their ease of access. Then, after some fifteen minutes of my ribs' delivery, my potato arrived. I couldn't believe my eyes. In fact the entire table erupted in laughter. The spud was no bigger than a large egg. Hell, that damned thing should have microwaved in less than three minutes. This coming from this, "wonderful chef." My ass! I would have bitched up a storm if it had not been for the unending chipperness ( is that a word?) of our server. I would, though, suggest she not reach over others when serving especially when there are no other people in the dining room. AND it might be a good thing to have the bartender, a blond female, turn down her personal volume while people are trying to eat.
To reiterate: The food TASTE was good. The food QUALITY was very "Hit and Miss." The food SERVICE was excellent.
We had just returned from a three day stay across the northern border and decided the vacation was not yet quite over. Upon some debate and discussion it was determined that we would go to New Town. As we arrived, it appeared our server had, too. She intoned from across the restaurant that we could not yet see her, obviously meant she was not yet on the clock. But, being the good server she is, Laurie came over and got our drink orders anyway. Within five minutes our drinks were on the table and she was ready to work. We arrived at approximately 3:30 so this was nearly 1/2 hour before her shift was to start.
We ordered from the menu that is on a place mat, good idea in my mind. Less upfront expense and ease of cleaning. Anyway, I ordered a full rack of "baby back" ribs, another ordered the same in 1/2 rack, a chicken quesadilla was ordered along with a New Town Strip. Lastly one of us ordered a 2 lb snow crab leg dinner. This is where things got a bit dicey. Our salads came out on time but that was it.
The ribs and quesadilla came out first. The companion with the quesadilla was thoroughly impressed as it was huge and, according to her, quite tasty. My ribs were good sized and also tasty, at least the first bone. The second bone I attempted to eat was cold. I mean cold to the point of tasting refrigerated. The other rib person admitted to the coldness as well but said she didn't mind. I was disgusted that they should come out so. In fact, there has been talk of this new chef heading the kitchen, well, he needs to do better because he should know when something is heated through. It was still cold the second time it came out but I just saved it to take home and warm myself.
The steak came out, done exactly as another companion had wanted. She said it was wonderful. The next problem... Each dinner was supposed to have come with baked potato. They had still not arrived, AND our last companion was still awaiting his crab legs. Granted, this was probably an early order fr diner, but the menus were presented to us and nothing was stated on the lines of, "...we are not quite prepared, so it might take a little longer..." The length of time to get the crab legs was probably due to the water not yet having been boiled, but I have done crab legs in the microwave that came out just as good as in water. Finally our potatoes came out, actually only two of them. Then the crab legs came out, which were raved over due to their ease of access. Then, after some fifteen minutes of my ribs' delivery, my potato arrived. I couldn't believe my eyes. In fact the entire table erupted in laughter. The spud was no bigger than a large egg. Hell, that damned thing should have microwaved in less than three minutes. This coming from this, "wonderful chef." My ass! I would have bitched up a storm if it had not been for the unending chipperness ( is that a word?) of our server. I would, though, suggest she not reach over others when serving especially when there are no other people in the dining room. AND it might be a good thing to have the bartender, a blond female, turn down her personal volume while people are trying to eat.
To reiterate: The food TASTE was good. The food QUALITY was very "Hit and Miss." The food SERVICE was excellent.
posted by johnathan e at 7:46 AM
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