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| - The "NEW" Mighty Oak Barrel
The original Mighty Oak Barrel was one of my favorite restaurants. We were so disappointed upon its closing. What a wonderful surprise it was to hear it reopened, albeit under different ownership. So last night we gave it a try.
Upon entering there were notable changes, one being the very bare enclosed porch entry...the old had this little area decorated nicely...it was cute and welcoming. Now it is a drab, bare space that does not really give you a sense that the inside would be any better. They need to perk it up. Once inside, it was much brighter than the old place (I was always blind for about 5 minutes in the old place until my eyes adjusted). They removed all the little white Christmas lights that were strewn all about the place, which gave it a cozy feel. Now it's lit with a little track lighting and overhead recessed lights, with very sparse decor...a little "cold" feeling.
We were seated and given the menus, but no sign of any special martinis or even a wine list. We asked what kind of martinis they had, and our nice but timid (maybe new in the business) server stumbled a bit with her answer and then just said "regular ones?" with a little nervous chuckle. I ended up just getting an iced tea, my dinner mate ordered a glass of Chardonnay and the server asked what kind, but since they did not offer a wine list she had no idea what they had so she just said the house wine. It was priced modestly at $4.25.
The menu is obviously different under the new ownership, and I did overhear a server stating that similar to the old place, it would change seasonally. They did not have dinner entree specials. We proceeded to order calamari as an app which was very good, not rubbery at all, with good flavor. Salads come with dinner and were very nice...a great mix of greens with almonds, apricots, dried cranberries. The unique dressings of the old place were gone. They offer 3 vinaigrettes, blue cheese and avocado ranch. They provided bread which for me was sliced a little thin, not warm, but fresh.
They now offer a selection of flatbreads and sandwiches and pastas on the menu. We both ordered beef, which was priced nicely in comparison to many restaurants we've been to. I ordered the New York strip with green peppercorn bourbon glaze. The steak was cooked perfectly medium rare and was tender, but I did not really taste the glaze. My companion ordered the twin filets with blue cheese which she also said were very good. I missed the style of the old place, which provided special sides to accompany the entrees. Now you choose from a standard selection offered. They offered veg of the day, green beans almandine, herb roasted red potatoes, pasta, rice with beans. I opted for the green beans which were cooked very nicely, but needed seasoning, and the herbed potatoes which were just very basic, kind of non-descrpt. Nothing over the top about either of them. Other entrees included trout, tuna, a couple chicken dishes, duck...no pork was offered. Bottom line is I found the food to be all in all very good, aside from the sides, which were certainly not bad, but just very blah. We did not order dessert...they had about 5 choices.
The one thing that was super annoying was the noise level. It's a small place...but the same size as the old place. I don't know how the acoustics could have changed so much, but it was SO loud once all the tables were filled that we had to practically scream across the table to one another. I'm guessing something to do with the decor or lack thereof to absorb some of the noise? Maybe not, as I know zilch about controlling noise levels lol, but SOMETHING is different. It used to be a place you could go for a quiet dinner, romantic even...I would not say that now.
So in summary, food was very good, ambience was poor. 4 stars for food, one star for atmosphere and lack of drink or wine list (it IS called the Mighty Oak Barrel after all....and no wine list offered?). We'll most likely go back once a new menu is posted. Worth a try, but don't expect everything to be the same as the old place just because they kept the name.
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