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| - My entire family lives in th South, so southern food is close to my heart. The food here was a tasty and reasonably close second to making the long trip home.
When we entered the restaurant, there was just two other couples there, but within about 15 minutes of arriving, the place began to fill up. The service was very polite, but also slow. I had the impression they either misplaced our order, ended up with it behind orders that came after ours, or they messed up one of our dishes and had to prepare it again. As we sat, we watched other parties get served, several of which were seated quite a bit of time after we were. If we were in a hurry it would have been a problem. I never asked why it was taking so long because we had time to sit. I was curious to see just how this would unfold. The waiter never explained why our meals were taking so long, but once everything arrived, it was delicious.
The waiter brought Honey Butter Biscuits to the table and we ordered the Fried Pickles with spicy ranch dressing to get us started. They serve pickle chips rather than spears and they were some of the best I've had outside of visiting my family.
My son had the chicken tenders for lunch. There was a generous number of them, and they were some of the fattest chicken strips I've seen served anywhere--a huge hit with him, and we ended up taking half of them home. My wife had the Good ol' Fashioned Shrimp Po' Boy and I had the Blackened Catfish with a side of Collard Greens (with Ham Hocks). Everything was delicious, and the fish was cooked perfectly. My only criticism of the fish was the seasoning. It had decent flavor, but no spice whatsoever. Back home when you order fish "blackened", there's usually a bite to the seasoning. I was also a little surprised they didn't bring a bottle of vinegar to the table with the greens though. This is a standard condiment in just about every southern restaurant that serves greens back home. Even without the vinegar though, these greens were totally legit.
My wife and I had sweet tea to drink, which thankfully wasn't overly sweet. One thing I've noticed about "southern" restaurants outside of the South: they tend to turn sweet tea into a syrupy symbol of the South--almost a joke. Salt 'N Pepper does it right. The tea was sweet, enjoyable and refreshing rather than tea-colored sugar water. It was served in tall, skinny glasses with lots of ice.
Our drinks weren't refilled until they were empty, which meant we had to either flag the waiter down, or wait without beverages until he noticed we were out. Thankfully we never had to wait long, but it seemed that he didn't want to keep drinks topped off and would rather wait until it was clear we wanted more. I'm not sure why, but think they should serve the tea in larger classes or keep them full.
Finally, in addition to the indoor seating, there's a generous outdoor seating area. Take advantage of it when the weather permits.
On this first visit, Salt 'N Pepper came across as almost trying too hard, or being too careful. I think they're the third restaurant to occupy this space in the relatively short time this part of Tivoli Village has been opened, so there may be a specter of pressure to succeed. I don't know. I do know this though: it was good enough that we'll go back to try more of the items on the menu! I hope you'll give it a try too.
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