Best Friends Restaurant on Center Street in Mentor, Ohio
Best Friends, huh? I guess I was very easily able to understand that when noticing that a table or two were obviously friends with our server, whose name we were never given. The letters on our ticket were, MF, which is how I will refer to her from here on.
We arrived at about 3:45 on Wednesday afternoon to a dining room about half full on the south side and no one on the north side. MF presented us with our menus and immediately got our drinks. She was then back in less than two minutes asking for our order. I always appreciate expediency but that was a bit too fast. The menu was full of a decent variety but most was just typical American Grill Fare. The one item that was glaring, to me, was the grouper. I have been told, on many occasions, that grouper has been nearly fished out and is terribly hard to come by even in Florida where it is most often served. It has been found that the grouper on the menu is usually something more like tilapia which is MUCH less expensive and lower quality. I have to believe that they do not REALLY have that fish in their freezer or walk-in.
Anyway, we both ordered the Fried Fish platter with breaded scallops, breaded perch, breaded shrimp and "fish and chips." Fish and chips is a meal of fried fish and fried potatoes it is not a type of fish which is how it was written on this menu. Also, speaking of the wording of the menu, it is somewhat hard to decipher. It says that entrees are served with "choice of potato, salad, soup, and rolls." It is one that could have been read in various ways. I thought it meant that we could have a choice of the various thing AND get rolls. My companion thought it meant that we got everything, which was actually the truth. I would suggest the word "AND" between everything to clarify.
When we placed our order MF asked if we actually wanted the salad, then did the same about the soup. We had already asked, therefore understood we got it all, so why would she ask if we wanted it. It came with the meal regardless, so it should have been expected that we DID in fact want it. She delivered the meals, without the bread, and I had to ask for them. Again, she said, "Oh did you want the rolls?" Well, yes! It said the meal came with them so they should have been delivered without question. Very odd in my book.
The meal itself was no more than OK. I did like the vegetable soup which had a slight tomato base and the scallops were quite good, and I rarely order deep fried anything. BUT the shrimp were fucking awful. The menu just read, "breaded shrimp." The garbage we got was coconut shrimp. Luckily neither of us is allergic to coconut, in fact I actually like it sometimes when done correctly, but we did not expect it AND this version was horrid. When we told the female at the cash register she just nodded and said, "That's what most people say. We ran out of the other stuff and had to use that." I don't know about you, but I find that quite moronic. You don't just "give" people coconut shrimp as a substitution. Ask them what they might want instead. Hell, breaded shrimp is usually as savory dish and this was sweet beyond anything intelligent. Regardless of the name of your restaurant, everyone in NOT your friend, therefore, you should not expect us to be fine with whatever substitution you might want to make.
Though our server seemed to have too much time to chat, she was pretty good about being where she needed to when she needed to.
We arrived at about 3:45 on Wednesday afternoon to a dining room about half full on the south side and no one on the north side. MF presented us with our menus and immediately got our drinks. She was then back in less than two minutes asking for our order. I always appreciate expediency but that was a bit too fast. The menu was full of a decent variety but most was just typical American Grill Fare. The one item that was glaring, to me, was the grouper. I have been told, on many occasions, that grouper has been nearly fished out and is terribly hard to come by even in Florida where it is most often served. It has been found that the grouper on the menu is usually something more like tilapia which is MUCH less expensive and lower quality. I have to believe that they do not REALLY have that fish in their freezer or walk-in.
Anyway, we both ordered the Fried Fish platter with breaded scallops, breaded perch, breaded shrimp and "fish and chips." Fish and chips is a meal of fried fish and fried potatoes it is not a type of fish which is how it was written on this menu. Also, speaking of the wording of the menu, it is somewhat hard to decipher. It says that entrees are served with "choice of potato, salad, soup, and rolls." It is one that could have been read in various ways. I thought it meant that we could have a choice of the various thing AND get rolls. My companion thought it meant that we got everything, which was actually the truth. I would suggest the word "AND" between everything to clarify.
When we placed our order MF asked if we actually wanted the salad, then did the same about the soup. We had already asked, therefore understood we got it all, so why would she ask if we wanted it. It came with the meal regardless, so it should have been expected that we DID in fact want it. She delivered the meals, without the bread, and I had to ask for them. Again, she said, "Oh did you want the rolls?" Well, yes! It said the meal came with them so they should have been delivered without question. Very odd in my book.
The meal itself was no more than OK. I did like the vegetable soup which had a slight tomato base and the scallops were quite good, and I rarely order deep fried anything. BUT the shrimp were fucking awful. The menu just read, "breaded shrimp." The garbage we got was coconut shrimp. Luckily neither of us is allergic to coconut, in fact I actually like it sometimes when done correctly, but we did not expect it AND this version was horrid. When we told the female at the cash register she just nodded and said, "That's what most people say. We ran out of the other stuff and had to use that." I don't know about you, but I find that quite moronic. You don't just "give" people coconut shrimp as a substitution. Ask them what they might want instead. Hell, breaded shrimp is usually as savory dish and this was sweet beyond anything intelligent. Regardless of the name of your restaurant, everyone in NOT your friend, therefore, you should not expect us to be fine with whatever substitution you might want to make.
Though our server seemed to have too much time to chat, she was pretty good about being where she needed to when she needed to.
posted by johnathan e at 2:21 PM
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