| rev:text
| - If I could rate Sewickley Speakeasy on how nice the staff is, they'd get four stars, but unfortunately, there's more to reviewing a restaurant.
The vibe when entering is very unflattering. It feels like you're walking into someone's house...and not in a cozy, welcoming kind-of-way. The dated decor needs a major overhaul, and it really just doesn't FEEL as semi-fancy as the prices, staff attire, and menu would suggest.
We initially sat at the bar while we waiting for the rest of our group to arrive, and the initial experience was okay. Decent whisky selection, and my wife's wine was pretty good. The bartender, who was also our waitress, was really nice, but we found it odd that her and one of the waitresses started getting a little argumentative in front of us. It felt about as awkward as the old kitchen-turned waitress station that you had to walk through to get to our table.
As for the food? A few hits, but mostly misses. We started with the frog legs, artichoke bacon dip, and the baked five onion soup. The frog legs were really bland, and drenched in plain garlic, wine, and butter sauce and battered. They sounded much better on paper than they tastes. Too much butter, not enough flavor. The artichoke bacon dip, on the other hand, was pretty good. The bacon adding a nice salty taste to what otherwise is a pretty common artichoke dip. Definitely our favorite of the three apps. The five onion soup was decent, but I probably wouldn't order it again. The cream-based onion soup would've been just as tasty and healthier without the cream. The creaminess really didn't add anything to the soup for me.
For the main course, I got the 8 oz. filet with a side of smashed potatoes. The filet was done perfectly to my liking, and was basic. Not over seasoned or anything. Just a well-cooked, medium temperature steak. The smashed potatoes were good, too, but definitely a bit too rich with butter. The side salad was basic, and I didn't even touch the bread that they gave us. That's probably a testament to the amount of food they give you, which IS quite a bit. Or maybe it's because we ordered too many apps. Either way, for the price, the amount of food they give you is good...too bad the flavor couldn't stand up to the price.
The waitress was attentive (even though she poured me the wrong Scotch), and even allowed us to move to the bar to watch the Penguins game after our meal (easy since she was working both our table and the bar). At the bar for the 2nd time, I decided to order dessert. Again, hit-and-miss. The creme brûlée? Awesome. The apple puff pastry? Awful. Essentially over sweetened, but uncooked and crisp apples, with thin pieces of pastry dough on top. That's one dessert that I hope to never come across again. It sounds harsh, but it really was that disappointing.
Overall, I really, REALLY wanted to like the Sewickley Speakeasy, but when it was all said and done, there was simply nothing memorable about the experience or the food. For $28, you can get a good filet and decent smashed potatoes at a lot of restaurants, and nothing surrounding the main entrée was good enough to make us eager to return. I feel bad saying that, but it's an honest review.
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