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| - DO NOT go here for dinner. Prices + so-so food quality + stingy portioning = rip-off. I will not be back.
We assumed that paying $18 for fish and chips would result in, well, delicious fish and chips. We were very wrong. We got two skimpy pieces of deep fried frozen fish in mushy bland batter. The battering seemed old, or like it had been done off-site en masse...fish sticks anyone? We had a side of mashed potatoes instead of fries, and they were very good: nice red potatoes with the skin left on...but again, skimpy on the portion. Half the price and this dish would be decent value.
In my experience you can often judge a restaurant by its Caesar salad. The Senator's was $9 for a boring plate of lettuce and croutons. The sourdough croutons were nice and tangy; too bad there were only 4 of them.
Usually Caesar mistakes are due to over-dressing. Until I ate at the Senator I didn't think it was possible to err in the other direction, but they managed it. I had to send a search party out to find the dressing on my palate with no success, so I used the lemon wedges to give the salad some kind of sauciness. What dressing I could taste was ok, but there was no anchovy to report, or shredded parmesan, all those things that make a Caesar a joy to eat. Parmesan is mentioned in the menu description but I can't describe it from my Senator experience. Perhaps it was applied with the same microscopic zeal that dressing was doled out with. Near the end I found a large hunk of bitter Romaine heart/base that had missed shredding (yuck), as well as a few pieces of lettuce with (gasp) visible salad dressing that had not been mixed in. I savoured those last to enjoy the illusion of having eaten a real Caesar salad.
I also had the "Senator Famous House Smoked Salmon, Cucumber Salad, Pickled Red Onion" for $12. This was good: price normal, portion normal, homemade pickled cucumber and onion were a very nice compliment to the (mild) smoked salmon. Call me a traditionalist, but the lack of capers made me a little sad. The salmon had a lovely plump texture. It came with some store-bought pumpernickel bread and a forlorn schmear of cream cheese. Forlorn because it was underdeveloped, unloved, puny. Looking at it and trying to figure out how to stretch it over 2 slices of pumpernickel made my brain hurt, so I instead let myself imagine back to the Camelot of portions at the Senator, a time when the kitchen bestowed food generously and appropriately, until perhaps a succession of diners ruined it for the rest of us, sending the chef into bouts of rage over mountains of unused cream cheese sympathetic dishpigs tried valiantly to hide from view. To keep the chef's blood pressure down, those days are gone and now the kitchen primly doles out stinge revenge on a new generation of hungry big-walleted prey...
If a restaurant is going to charge these prices for upscale diner cuisine, it better be delicious. You can even get away with skimpy if it's delicious. But if it ain't delicious, and it's skimpy and expensive to boot, scr*w you and the price you rode in on.
Service was ok, fast and friendly. It was the pre-theatre rush, and they were able to accommodate our request to get fed and out within 45 min. Only real objection would be that our server seemed to be on auto-pilot -- when he asked us any questions (e.g. how was the food) , he obviously ignored the answer, looking all over the place and giving no sign that he registered our actual response, only that we had replied in some fashion. But then we went there for dinner, not therapy :P
It must be pointed out that it is ridiculous to call this place "wheelchair-accessible". The bathroom is down a steep flight of stairs, and the room is long and narrow with small booths. I suppose diners in wheelchairs could sit by themselves at the door to eat, as long as they don't mind people clambering over them to get into the rest of the place, and don't have to go to the bathroom...how memorable for them.
And yes, the decor is gorgeous and fun, high ceilings, wood booths, cozy. Even the tiny table in the back affords a fun view of other eaters and their talking heads. However, it will probably be difficult to get over my poor first experience here to try their brunch menu. Especially since the coffee isn't even good. Sigh.
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