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| - I wasn't really all that impressed with this place. It seems pretty popular given that it seems to be full whenever I walk by, and acquaintances have said they loved it.
I wanted to like it, as I am all for their "locally sourced" ethos.
It's designed as a small plates kind of joint, maybe something like "midwest tapas?" Many dishes are served family style for sharing, but limited entrees are offered.
Our group of 4 went on a weeknight at about 7:30. It wasn't packed and there were a few tables open. We waited for about 20 minutes for them to prep a table. Not sure why it took that long. After we were seated it took another 10 minutes for water to be delivered by a runner. Then another 5 minutes for our server to finally arrive. We had been mulling over the menu over those 15 minutes so we were ready to get a drink order in, and our first round of plates. We all noted the slow service.
The atmophere is pretty cool though. It's mostly windows so you get a great view of the capital building and the square. It is a bit loud, but certainly not as loud as the Old Fashioned can get.
We ordered our beers along with the mac & cheese, the plate of house pickles, and the charcuterie.
Our beers took at least 10 minutes to arrive. Then another 15 minutes for the first plates. We asked the server to point out the offerings on the charcuterie plate, but the server could only point out the salame and mortadella, the only ones I recognized immediately. Not much help there. The mac & cheese was merely OK, I like my own better. The pickles, while pretty good, were nothing to brag about. Though I will say the pickled squash was pretty memorable.
Our server didn't come check on us for quite a while, though I'm not sure how long it was because we were contently conversing. We had to flag her down to order more beers and the next round of plates. Not cool. A couple of us also decided to order entrees along with the additional plates.
This round we ordered the fresh bread basket, cheese board, and deviled eggs. For entrees, we ordered the asparagus/frisee salad, the seafood stew, the market steak, and I ordered the Graze burger, it's touted $19 burger. Yes, a $19 burger. I couldn't NOT try it. Once.
About 10 minutes later and our small plates arrived. These are all good, but how do you screw up bread and cheese? The deviled eggs were pretty good but nothing to come back for. 20 minutes later, the entrees arrived. And actually, everyone loved their entrees but me. Like any good midwestern man, I do like me some burgers. Plus I've got an open mind when if comes to them. This burger is a mix of sirloin, ribeye & short rib meat served on a brioche bun. This sounded fantastic to me, but it didn't deliver. The brioche bun arrived with a completely soggy bottom, and the combined flavors of the caramelized onions and the bun was sweet. Yes, sweet. I do know that brioche can be a sweet kind of bread, but maybe I was expecting something else. Anyway, the sweetness ruined the burger for me. I just don't get down with sweet burgers, even though the meat was high quality and perfectly done. I didn't finish it. The fries that came with the burger were also overly soggy with grease, only the very tips were crispy.
While everyone in our party knew this place was a little expensive going in, we didn't feel we got our money's worth. If I'm with a group that decides to go, I'd probably try it again. There were a couple other menu items that looked good, after all. But I'd rather go elsewhere.
My rating is based on -2 points for the slow, crap service, and -1 point for the lack of value.
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