Root 174 is definitely a solid restaurant with creative dishes and plenty of variety for the meat lovers and vegans alike. As much as I'd hate to say it, I just wasn't that satisfied or impressed with it. I had the opportunity to eat there during the first week it was open and it was AMAZING. I had their fried chicken special, which was juicy and delicious. The skin was nice and crispy and it really delivered on flavor.
I was just waiting for a chance to go back and that finally happened this week with one of my friends. Unfortunately it just wasn't as good as I remembered. We started off with the bone marrow creme brûlée and the crispy brussel sprouts. The bone marrow had a great texture but it tasted bland to me, it just wasn't very exciting. The brussel sprouts, however, was probably the best thing part of the entire meal. They were lightly fried and covered in a black pepper and bacon jam. The jam was not overpowered by the black pepper at all but gave a nice richness to the brussel sprouts. I LOVED IT!
Next we split 2 entrees, the first dish was the special of the night which was a pork shank with a white bean puree with some type of root vegetable and the second dish was the falafel dish. The falafel was light and crispy but I think I was just expecting more flavor wise. Again, nothing was bad...I was just a little bored. The pork shank was very tender but overall the dish was very heavy and felt like it needed something to cut through the richness.
Although the desserts on the chalkboard seemed pretty generic, the waitress gave us a more detailed description that definitely peaked our interest. They all sounded amazing but we decided on the chocolate espresso cake. The cake was dense, but dry. The flavors were there on this one, but the execution feel apart somewhere. Aside from that the staff was very helpful and friendly. Unfortunately due to the small space and close tables I was barely able to hear my friend speak. Based on the exceptional reviews and my first experience I might have just built it up in my head...I think I screwed myself on this one because I left unsatisfied.