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| - 3 1/2 stars, and I'm just not excited enough about what I ate for my main course to move this up to 4 stars.
Fun, open atmosphere, friendly and helpful service, decent food.
After walking in through a seemingly endless hallway (with an admittedly nice view into the kitchen), I arrived in the main area of Culinary Dropout. I immediately liked the setting, from the openness of all of it to the modern tables. I don't think the smaller tables with the pub-style seating looked very comfortable, so I'm glad I didn't sit there. I was with a large group, and despite that, the service was always quick and attentive.
We had a few appetizers to start. The BBQ pork belly nachos were delicious--guacamole, black beans, some tender and saucy chicken, and a few other toppings were all on there. The soft pretzels and provolone fondue were pretty tasty as well.
I ordered the shrimp and pork belly ramen. I had reservations about ordering the ramen, but I had been craving ramen for a while, and this was the opportunity I had to have some. The waiter convinced me it was delicious, so I went with it. When it came out, I was sure that he had been right. Everything in the bowl looked great! The pork belly looked awesome, the cilantro, mushrooms, and sprouts were nice and fresh, the shrimp looked tasty, and the soft-boiled egg was delightfully tempting. I was hoping for a slightly larger bowl, but it looked great.
Once I started eating, though, I just wasn't impressed. Don't get me wrong, the ramen wasn't bad. It just wasn't all that great. The pork belly was cooked nicely, and the soft-boiled egg was perfect--nice and runny inside. But it was all rather bland. There wasn't much flavor to any of it. It was pretty "meh" to me.
Now the reason I added half a star and was tempted to add a full star came at the end of the meal. The bourbon black bottom pie. It's ridiculous. The chocolate ganache is fantastic, and the graham cracker crust adds a lovely texture. But what really did it was the salted caramel sauce that is on the side. Oh, man, this is good pie!
If it was all about the pie, this could be 5 stars. But my disappointment with the blandness of the ramen required a lower rating. Maybe a subsequent visit will convince me to bring up the rating.
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