| rev:text
| - Overall impression: Over-rated and over-priced for the quality of food.
Atmosphere: Great remodel of the old J. Alexander's with a more upscale feel. Layout is open with a bar in the rear that includes a few tables and lots of bar seating. When we were there it was quiet and slow. Tables are set nicely. Atmosphere is upscale.
Service: Service was attentive and friendly. Policies don't seem as welcoming. We were served a tiny dish of olives (1" round dish that had 4 or 5 pea sized olives in it...maybe 1 tablespoon of olives). We asked if we could have more but were told that they would have to charge us $5 for another dish. If this had been a large dish of olives, such as the free plate of bread and olives that they serve at Houston's across the street, I could understand the charge, but this was a tablespoon of olives! We asked for bread, got 3 half-slices slices of bread which was good but almost certainly not baked in house.
Menu: Prices are very high but comparable to what you would find in steak houses in the area; however, the food is more casual (burgers, mac & cheese, spinach dip, french dip) so prices seem on the high end of what they should be. Starters such as cheese plate are $12 per person, spinach dip $14, and shrimp appetizer, $17. Entrees range from $13 for a veggie burger ($14 for regular meat burger), and an additional $6 for fries with that burger, and they go up to $39 for a NY steak. I had the house made polenta and vegetables in tomato creme. The veggies were greasy overcooked. I was not able to cut them with my knife. The polenta was burnt (not just charred but black). It all sat in a lot of tomato creme which seemed to clash with the flavors of the grilled veggies. When the server asked how our food was, I said it was okay but I wondered if the polenta was supposed to be served that charred. The manager saw the polenta, apologized, and removed it. My dining companion had the chicken with mashed potatoes and liked it ($21). For dessert we had banana creme pie. Also disappointing. The crust had a thin ribbon of ganache on the bottom, topped by about 1/2" of vanilla cream with a few slices of banana, topped with almost an inch of unsweetened whipped creme. I wanted to like this dessert but it was bland. We left half of it on the plate.
We probably won't return. I would instead head over to Houstons for casual dining or Eddie Vs for steaks and seafood. Even though the prices were similar to other restaurants in the area, the quality was not.
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