Restaurant Solace

Matt Oliver _{on Google}

Sep 9th, 2012

I just can't find it in me to assign a zero to anything. It wasn't exactly a one, but wasn't as bad as a zero.
This place had no wait on a busy street fair weekend. That should have been my first clue. The menu, while being very small, seemed palatable. My companion and I were both seated promptly, but the time from seating until our drink order exceeded seven minutes. We considered it too long given that there were only five other seated tables in the restaurant.
It's fine to offer to take our drinks. Please don't let us request items on the menu that you no longer have. It just detracts from the overall feel.
Speaking of the overall feel, I felt as if I was in a retirement center dining hall than a bustling restaurant. It was so quiet and the decor was so bland and mixed. Why were there a handful of abstract paintings on the wall with large victorian style chairs that wobbled on the uneven tile? Why was there a half-inch padding on the table that caused our drinks to sit sideways? Why were the tables arranged in such an awkward way so that my companion had to move his chair each time someone wanted to get by? Another guest commented on the same thing.
The glasses for the fountain drinks were barely even 8 ounces. The free refills wouldn't be a problem if I didn't have to continually find our waitress.
When a staff member brought our food from the downstairs, he disappeared behind a wall for about five minutes before bringing it out. There seemed to be a lot of confusion about who ordered what with only five tables.
The food itself wasn't bad; but it wasn't anything to write home about. Ten hours later, I can't really remember much about our meals. My burger, requested medium, definitely came out well-done. The beef was very bland and very tough. The homemade potato chips were also very well done to the point of being overdone. They also lacked any distinct flavor.
My companion's meal was an angel hair pasta with summer vegetables. I have to admit that the cherry tomatoes tasted quite a bit 'off,' even though our waitress decided that they tasted great.
Overall, it was an alright place to fill up our bellies. But my companion and I agree that we won't return, as will the table seated next to us. It was just a weird setup with mediocre service and mediocre food. I am very saddened to say that the taste of food from McDonald's is preferable.