| rev:text
| - This is one of those times that I bemoan the fact that you can't give a half star to reviews. After a couple of days of deliberating, my stars for 131 Main are a solid 3.5. Since I had to choose a 3 or 4 I went with 4 because the staff here is so nice.
It's been awhile since I've been here, the menu is just "that side" of pricey by a few dollars on each item that I tend to choose other places with similar menus and better prices.
We were greeted by a delightful hostess who was friendly and helpful, even with an already packed restaurant and seated by another hostess who was just as nice. I point this out because to a man, there wasn't anyone working the evening we went who wasn't helpful or friendly. And there were a LOT of people working. So, 5 stars on staff personality.
The restaurant itself is very, very pretty. Many booths makes for intimate dining, including booths for 6 but it was in that upscale, manly booth way, not the diner booth way. I very much wanted to take a picture to show atmosphere but I couldn't because it is so dark in the restaurant you can't see... anything. All of my pictures below were adjusted as much as I could because the lighting is horrendous.
I held my menu this way and that, near the fake candle and under a dim overhead light before admitting defeat. I couldn't read anything on the menu!!!! Happily, I of course spent the week deliberating my Restaurant Week menu choices, but if I hadn't I'd have had to have asked the server to read me the entire menu. I wish I was exaggerating but I'm not, it is that dim in there. You can't see anything.
Our server was friendly and came promptly for drink orders. We liked him a lot but then I overheard the server at the next table over killing it with the specials presentation which our server had forgotten to share with us. I was iffy on the Restaurant Week menu to start with (the other couple had chosen) and I had half a mind to order off the regular menu but since I couldn't read the menu and he didn't present the specials, I just didn't.
Sodas here come in small glass bottles. I'm not sure if they charge per bottle (I forgot to look at the receipt after we left) but I suspect they must. Drinks were brought promptly, so promptly that we actually accidentally got a second round within 10 minutes of the first, which the restaurant kindly comped. (Turn down a free glass of wine? Not me!) When our friends arrived they were also offered drinks and an introduction to the server in a timely basis.
After ordering our meals we received appetizers in short order, probably in about 4 minutes. However, they were for another table. Two minutes later our own correct appetizers were served, like magic they were instantly ready. (I'd noticed that the appetizer menu were all items easily and quickly whipped up in the back):
MAIN Salad - chopped egg, bacon & cornbread croutons (very good)
Caesar Salad - fresh Reggiano cheese & cornbread croutons (it's just me, but I loathe cornbread. I tried one because they were clearly homemade and hand fried, but I still hated it. I think cornbread lovers would rejoice over these croutons though). Just a fun fact, I saw a lot of tables ordering the cornbread appetizer off the regular menu so it must be good.
Deviled Eggs (4) - our creamy homemade mixture garnished with parsley (average, at best, was the verdict)
While eating I saw servers try to give dishes to wrong tables another two times. There seemed to be a lot of servers and back waiters and likely limited communication between them all which was kind of curious to me as this is a long-time, well established restaurant that is well versed in Restaurant Week volume.
Dinner entrees tried by our table included:
Maryland-Style Crab Cakes - two jumbo lump crab cakes served over pommerey mustard sauce with jumbo grilled asparagus ($25 on the regular menu). Good crab cakes, minimal filler and the mustard sauce was not sharp, it was more mild which I appreciated as I'd recently eaten an entree with mustard sauce that overwhelmed the plate. 131 Main's mustard sauce was much, much better. Served with jumbo asparagus spears (again, it's just me but I like medium or thin spears, they're not as stringy as jumbo).
Sterling Silver Ribeye - 14 oz., cut in-house, simply grilled over hickory wood and served with hand-cut fries ($31 similar Ribeye on the regular menu). Steak was very good. Served with mashed potatoes that evening instead of the fries listed on the menu.
Desserts - we tried them all. All were generously sized and prettily presented.
Key Lime Pie - good, with a very dense homemade whipped cream
Brownie a la Mode - very pretty
Peanut Butter Pie - enormous, and you better love peanut butter. Light in texture, heavy in PB taste, you'll have leftovers
So, all in all, I like this place. But the combination of the impossible lighting and just a stitch too expensive than everyone else is what gives me pause.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)