We live in the neighborhood and decided to finally give this a try. The menu isn't that much different from when my mom was growing up in the midwest on the farm, so the selection was familiar with her. The building is beautifully done. Very pleasant inside and comfortable ambience. The open concept kitchen is something we both like and enjoy watching.
Service wasn't too quick considering the number of employees on the floor. We were in an hour before dinner rush with few patrons seated. There seemed to be a mix up with servers, I am assuming because the server assigned to our table was running late and they didn't know if he was showing. When he got on the floor, he seemed nervous but very nice and informative. I ordered a salad which cost $13 and my dinner partner had the roast beef sandwich which was $14. Food was good but nothing spectacular and terribly overpriced, esp for the size portion. We opted for a dessert of the strawberry cornmeal shortcake. Again, for $6.50 greatly overpriced for strawberries, whipped cream, and a piece of cornmeal bread.
The one thing that really put us off was the server constantly having to move his hair out of his eye and he kept wiping his mouth, I think because of how much he was sweating. Touching your hair and face w/out washing your hands is a big no-no in the food industry. He proceeds to brings us silverware and keeps our drinks full with disgusting hands. We also watched one of the female servers as she kept getting the hair out of her eyes. A revisit to food handlers policies is warranted. Truly unappetising - we didn't want to touch much. Both of us washed our hands as soon as we got home.
We were quite un-impressed with the entire experience. Something I guess comes with the territory when there is 30 + years of food industry experience between my dinner partner and I. We pay attention to detail and the little things.
I give 3 stars only because our main meal had a good taste. We both agreed the over-priced menu and the unsanitary practices of the servers deemed it not worth returning.