Cool River Review
I called and made reservations for 8pm, the lady on the phone was very nice, asked if we were celebrating anything special, to which I replied "yes, 3rd anniversary." She responded with "How wonderful, we'll have something special for you when you get here." Great! I was excited
Upon coming into the restaurant I notice how BIG the main dining room is, not lateral size, but high HIGH ceilings. For some reason, things like that make me uncomfortable (unless its really dark and there is loud music and lasers). We sat down in a very small booth, only large enough for two people. The table was one of those that has the cross beams on the bottom to stand it up, which given the size of the booth setting, was VERY uncomfortable. There was NO place for either of us to comfortably put our feet. Also, the table was pushed up against the wall, which didn't allow the table cloth to go completely around the table, so whoever set the table just folded the extra part of the table cloth under itself so that there was a HUGE hem crease right down the middle of the table, right where you would put your plates. Little things like that irk me, and for the money I was about to spend, I was less than happy at my discomfort.
The waitstaff was decent, the way he talked was a little annoying, but thats dismissable. We ordered our drinks and apetizers (wine and Spinich Artichoke dip). The appetizer came fairly fast and was surprisingly good. The chips were nice and warm and crunchy. The dip also came with a little side of sour cream and salsa, which I found almost better than the dip.
Next came my salad, a wedge with "our version of bleu cheese", bacon and tomatoes. The lettuce was nice and cold and crunchy. The dressing however, tasted overpoweringly of pepper, and no bleu cheese (which I love a strong bleu cheese flavor in "bleu cheese dressing"). I reluctantly requested to send back the salad and get one with "regular bleu cheese" which got an odd response from the waiter. "What do you mean regular?" Uhm...huh? Regular, like, non-bad dressing. "Well our version of ranch is a XXX, our version of italian is XXX, etc etc...." So I opted to try the Caesar salad, feeling a little down about the choice of dressings. When the Caesar came it looked pretty good, however, didn't taste as good as it looked. It had crutons, shaved parmesian cheese, lettuce and dressing. The lettuce was hot (not good on ANY salad), and the dressing tasted like I had just put a Zip-Lock bag into my mouth. Seriously, it had like an air-like plastic flavor. Very strange. Needless to say, I didnt eat too much of it, just moved it around some on the plate.
The bread was supposed to be some form of Ciabatta. It was decent, but tasted store bought. Good thing it was free.
Next came our main course. Leslie ordered a Blackened Shrimp over pasta with a lemon butter sauce (I think?). It was alright, not my favorite type of sauce for pasta as I think its always too light. The shrimp were pretty good and large. Overall the dish was lacking flavor, considering the description of the food in the menu. I had the 8 oz Filet Mignon with 6 Cheese Scalloped Potatoes. My one complaint about this dish was the size of the plate and the amount of food on it. The Filet, being an 8 oz, was small, as expected, but the plate could have fit half a cow on it. It was HUGE! It made the dinner proportion look exceptionally small. A big no-no in my eyes, thats just my opinion. I'm not saying they should have put it on a tea-cup saucer, but just a regular sized plate would have done fine. Let me start with the scalloped potatoes. I thought they were very good. They had a strong cheese flavor but also some sour cream in them. Very good in my opinion. They came out piping hot and full of flavor. The steak was amazing, although almost under cooked. I ordered medium and it came out almost Rare. However, even though it wasnt cooked right to me specifications it was wonderful. It was nice and juicy, had cracked pepper dusted on the outside and the middle was hot and pink. It had a ton of flavor. I ate every bit of it, partly because it was expensive and partly because it was pretty darn good.
The "something special" that the person who took our reservation promised never came. I have no idea what it was, but we never got it. That was a little disappointing.
Overall the experience at the restaurant (leaving out the company and conversation) was less than good. The booth was uncomfortable, the salads were terrible, the food (other than the steak) was mediocre at best. I would not dine here again if I had to choose. Our bill (with-out tip) came to about $76, rather expensive for the quality of food and service we received. For that kind of money I would rather go to Texas Land & Cattle Company, Eddie V's, Sullivans or some other place. Cool River...you just didn't do it for me.
Upon coming into the restaurant I notice how BIG the main dining room is, not lateral size, but high HIGH ceilings. For some reason, things like that make me uncomfortable (unless its really dark and there is loud music and lasers). We sat down in a very small booth, only large enough for two people. The table was one of those that has the cross beams on the bottom to stand it up, which given the size of the booth setting, was VERY uncomfortable. There was NO place for either of us to comfortably put our feet. Also, the table was pushed up against the wall, which didn't allow the table cloth to go completely around the table, so whoever set the table just folded the extra part of the table cloth under itself so that there was a HUGE hem crease right down the middle of the table, right where you would put your plates. Little things like that irk me, and for the money I was about to spend, I was less than happy at my discomfort.
The waitstaff was decent, the way he talked was a little annoying, but thats dismissable. We ordered our drinks and apetizers (wine and Spinich Artichoke dip). The appetizer came fairly fast and was surprisingly good. The chips were nice and warm and crunchy. The dip also came with a little side of sour cream and salsa, which I found almost better than the dip.
Next came my salad, a wedge with "our version of bleu cheese", bacon and tomatoes. The lettuce was nice and cold and crunchy. The dressing however, tasted overpoweringly of pepper, and no bleu cheese (which I love a strong bleu cheese flavor in "bleu cheese dressing"). I reluctantly requested to send back the salad and get one with "regular bleu cheese" which got an odd response from the waiter. "What do you mean regular?" Uhm...huh? Regular, like, non-bad dressing. "Well our version of ranch is a XXX, our version of italian is XXX, etc etc...." So I opted to try the Caesar salad, feeling a little down about the choice of dressings. When the Caesar came it looked pretty good, however, didn't taste as good as it looked. It had crutons, shaved parmesian cheese, lettuce and dressing. The lettuce was hot (not good on ANY salad), and the dressing tasted like I had just put a Zip-Lock bag into my mouth. Seriously, it had like an air-like plastic flavor. Very strange. Needless to say, I didnt eat too much of it, just moved it around some on the plate.
The bread was supposed to be some form of Ciabatta. It was decent, but tasted store bought. Good thing it was free.
Next came our main course. Leslie ordered a Blackened Shrimp over pasta with a lemon butter sauce (I think?). It was alright, not my favorite type of sauce for pasta as I think its always too light. The shrimp were pretty good and large. Overall the dish was lacking flavor, considering the description of the food in the menu. I had the 8 oz Filet Mignon with 6 Cheese Scalloped Potatoes. My one complaint about this dish was the size of the plate and the amount of food on it. The Filet, being an 8 oz, was small, as expected, but the plate could have fit half a cow on it. It was HUGE! It made the dinner proportion look exceptionally small. A big no-no in my eyes, thats just my opinion. I'm not saying they should have put it on a tea-cup saucer, but just a regular sized plate would have done fine. Let me start with the scalloped potatoes. I thought they were very good. They had a strong cheese flavor but also some sour cream in them. Very good in my opinion. They came out piping hot and full of flavor. The steak was amazing, although almost under cooked. I ordered medium and it came out almost Rare. However, even though it wasnt cooked right to me specifications it was wonderful. It was nice and juicy, had cracked pepper dusted on the outside and the middle was hot and pink. It had a ton of flavor. I ate every bit of it, partly because it was expensive and partly because it was pretty darn good.
The "something special" that the person who took our reservation promised never came. I have no idea what it was, but we never got it. That was a little disappointing.
Overall the experience at the restaurant (leaving out the company and conversation) was less than good. The booth was uncomfortable, the salads were terrible, the food (other than the steak) was mediocre at best. I would not dine here again if I had to choose. Our bill (with-out tip) came to about $76, rather expensive for the quality of food and service we received. For that kind of money I would rather go to Texas Land & Cattle Company, Eddie V's, Sullivans or some other place. Cool River...you just didn't do it for me.