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| - Long time Charlotte establishment McNinch House is a dining experience, not just a restaurant. Located in a beautiful Fourth Ward Victorian house, you are dining in an elegant setting. Make sure that you really like the person you're with because an evening at McNinch House is an investment in time. Enjoy yourself - do not feel rushed - pace your beverages - dinner will definitely take a while.
My dining partner and I chose the four course dinner. There are options that offer additional courses as well as wine parings if you wish. Wine is also available by the glass, bottle and as flights.
We chose crab cakes as our first course. When the plates were served, I thought I was seeing two small biscuits on the plate (yes, the lighting is somewhat dim.) The crab cakes were beautiful and wonderful. The two crab cakes were predominantly chunks of crab with very little seasoning, dusted with a soft flour and very lightly browned. They were served with a lightly dressed slaw and the combination was right on. Perfect.
Being in a crab state of mind, we chose she crab soup for our second course. The creme fraiche made in house really added to the flavor of this dish. The small addition of sherry was just right.
My companion and I parted company with the entree. She had the rack of lamb and I chose the duck breast. The rack of lamb was cooked to perfection, nicely displayed and exactly what she expected. My duck breast was also perfectly cooked. It was served with a cherry reduction and sweet potato hash.
For dessert, we chose their evening's cheesecake. Thinking I would receive the normal size portion, I thought I would be wasting much of my dessert. When the plates arrived, I was very pleased to see a beautiful, small portion. The flavor was wonderful. I ate the whole thing! It was just right.
With one exception, the food was five stars. Unfortunately I detected a slight burned flavor in the cherry reduction. It was about 30 seconds too cooked. But that was not enough to ruin the whole food experience.
My greater concern involved service. McNinch House is a first class restaurant. I didn't feel like the service was first class for these reasons: we arrived about 10 minutes before our reservation time. The door was locked and after a while we were met at the door by one of the servers. We felt awkward when he said for us to wait and look around if we wished. I would have preferred him to take my coat then and offer to take a drink order. The waiting was not a problem, the awkwardness was. Secondly, the servers did not stick with the tried and true rules of which side to serve and from which side to remove plates. In several instances the servers crossed in front of us to remove something from the table in spite of the fact there was plenty of room behind both of us. Lastly, I don't mind an automatic gratuity and I don't object to a 20% gratuity since I normally tip that amount anyway. What I do object to is tipping on the taxed amount. This means I am tipping on more than 20% and I don't think that is right at all.
I hope to someday return to McNinch House. I do recommend this restaurant with some reservation (but not the food - it was wonderful.)
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