| rev:text
| - I have no idea what's driving some of the overly negative reviews here. But in short, we had a wonderful experience from start to finish.
In long...
First, the whole parking thing. Yes, there's a convenient lot right across the street that charges $5. This is a complete non-issue if you are planning on having dinner, because you are going to drop $50 if you get drinks, starters, and a couple entrees and the restaurant will credit you back the $5. That being said, the restaurant didn't set up shop in a strip mall with 9,000 open spaces, so deal with it, really not worth griping about.
Second, the facility. As Charlotteans, we should be thrilled that someone was willing to invest so much money in the local food scene. It's obvious someone spent a whole bunch of cash on this place and it really shows. I didn't go upstairs, but the bar area is really nice. Beautiful wood finish, warm, cozy, inviting.
Third, the service. Nice greeting, quickly shown to our seats, and drink order taken almost immediately. It was clear there is still a bit of a learning curve for the waitress in being able to talk about the menu, but for a place that's relatively new, I don't really mind if she has to check her notes a few times. She made some good recommendations nonetheless.
Fourth, the food. We started with the English Cheddar Rarebit and Lebanese Lollipop. Rarebit was buttermilk biscuits with a nice beer cheese and tomato confit. Biscuits tender and flaky, great strong cheese. The Lamb skewer "lollipop" might have been my best bite of the night. Tons of flavor in that bite alone and that's not including the Hummus and salsa fresca it came with. Starters, big hit.
One minor nit was that our bread came out after our starters. It was very good, crusty homemade bread, but the butter it came with was heavily salted. Not sure if by design or not. A bit too salty for my taste and I tend to like salty.
For mains, I got the Oxtail Poutine and my wife got the Mussels. The Oxtail Poutine was off the charts savory goodness. I mean, house cut french fries with oxtail gravy and cheese. Very heavy dish but crazy delicious. The Mussels were very good as well. Make sure to save bread or ask for more to use in the Mussel broth.
Lastly, dessert. We got the Car Bomb. Chocolate pate, mouse, shortbread. It was really good, but my wife is more the chocolate person. I would have gone for the fresh doughnuts or fried ice cream.
All of this ended up being way too much food. We were able to share and we could easily have dropped one of the mains. All in, before tip, we spent $66 including alcohol. Dropping a main would have put us around $50-60 and I don't consider that a bad investment for dinner date with food this good. Way better than spending upwards of $100+ for a fancy steakhouse.
So, bottom line, ignore the star rating and give this place a shot. If you are a fan of the gastropub genre, this place is well-deserving of your $$$. I'd love to go again.
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