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| - My dining companion (formally known as Mom) and I are in Verrado every Thursday night for chiropractor night. Since it's dinner time by the time we're done, we decided to pop "downtown" for some food and wine. Neither of us have dined in Verrado except for at the golf club, but being familiar with the sister wine and coffee bar in Goodyear, Ground Control seemed like a decent option.
Decent was probably apt, but I wouldn't go as far to call it "excellent," or "must try," or even "a really good choice." We walked in and, without a sign, waited for someone to seat us or invite us to seat ourselves. Mom finally asked a server, who told us to have at. We chose a table in the back that was half booth, but as soon as we sat, I realized the table setting, consisting of some coasters, and plastic holder for sugars, and the salt and pepper, were rather habberdash, with an extra plastic holder on the other side of the table, alone and empty. But the table looked clean so we forged ahead. A few minutes later, the bartender appeared and took out drink and food order. We both ordered the same wine, which the bartender returned to inform us several minutes later, he ran out of, but would provide the other version of pinot grigio, the more expensive version, at the price of the one we requested. This was completely reasonable and earns the bartender a star.
Our food took a little longer because Mom ordered the Shepherd's pie, but arrived timely enough for the half-full restaurant. As soon as my Ham and Brie panini with salad was in front of me, I realized I was hungrier than the cook must have estimated, and asked for a side of fries. The salad was a nice, fresh looking mix of spinach and bright greens nearly drowned in balsamic. The "sandwich"was a couple pieces of ham smooshed between two sad pieces of rosemary flat-with-a-capital-F flatbread. I peeled the mess apart to study it, and found two teeny tiny pieces of brie for each half of the sandwich, and two slices of soft apples on only one half. I forged ahead and bit into my extremely dry, bland meal. I ate about three-quarters of the sandwich before I gave up and went to town scraping most of the balsamic off my salad, and this from a girl who loves her some bals. The chef brought out my fries, which were pretty good, and asked how the food was. Mom and I both hate to cause a scene, so we assured him everything was fine.
Mom, meanwhile, kept fishing in her shepherd's pie for veggies beyond the couple of peas I saw her scrape out. Her evaluation after the meal was that the mashed potatoes were good, but not lumpy, as she prefers, and there was a ton of ground beef but very few veggies.
But our wine was good, and the bartender gets no complaints from me.
I know Verrado is a bit out in the boonies to say the least, but it would be really nice if some Cen Pho-type restaurant took a chance out there. Ground Control's atmosphere has potential, but it's still pretty generic looking; maybe some local artists could contribute to the decor. The food, at least the ones we sampled tonight, is mediocre at best. The group a few tables down from us, however, seemed delighted with their burgers, so maybe that's the way to go. I'm more than willing to give Ground Control another shot, especially because I love supporting small business owners, but it isn't at the top of my list.
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