A diner from Washignton, DC
May 17, 2012
I will start my review by admitting the NE DC restaurant passed my "Would I return to this restaurant test." Yes. I would return. My mouth is watering now as I consider the possibilities. I start there because there were a considerable amount of negatives I had to wade through before I got to the good part.
We started by trying to pull into the last of three handicapped spaces in the parking lot. Unfortunately it was too small for our car, unless we wanted to leave our rear end sticking out in the parking lot entrance. We opted for a space at the rear of the parking lot instead.
We walked inside and strike number two was not hard to find---there was no designated hostess. Understandable in this economy, but our wait time to be seated certainly could have been shorter since there were empty tables and our only impediment to being seated was the fact there was no hostess. A please seat yourself sign in place of the one urging us to wait would have been appreciated by these handicapped patrons who had just opted for the aforementioned parking space at the end of the parking lot. If your not going to seat people promptly, let them seat themselves instead of having them ogle the empty tables.
Well, once we got our seats the chips and salsa came. Clearly, this must be a plus right? Wrong...the salsa was judged to be canned (at least I hope it was by the taste of it.) The chips, lets just say not the best tasting. Half of our chips and salsa went uneaten (by a duo that has been known to polish off 2 orders of free chips and salsa in other tex-mex restaurants.) I think the restaurant fell into the trap of if we give it away free it can be of any quality...I'm not so sure that is a good trap to be in, but I'll move on.
Ok. So now it was time to look for some pluses so I inspected the silverware looking for any good news. Voila...clean, sparkling silverware. Score one for the S. A. Bar and Grill !!!
With that, I pronounced I would reserve my final judgment until my "gems" arrived which is what I decided to call my appetizer and main course. I had concluded this was a neighborhood restaurant that simply must be putting all of their energy into the delights their patrons order. So I patiently waited for my shrimp appetizer. Not too long of a wait either. Another unexpected plus!
The sauce was impeccable. I recognized the appetizer as one I order regularly at my other tex-mex restaurant with just a different name. This one had more bread, a plus, less butter on the bread, also a plus since who needs the extra calories when you're going to use the bread to sop up that delicious sauce. My only complaint was the shrimp had not absorbed the sauce. It tasted like they were just thrown the shrimp in the sauce at the end. But, I got past that!
Now, all I had to do was wait for what I hoped would be our last two gems...my chicken quesadilla and my boyfriend's pepper steak. I was not disappointed. The quesadilla was quite good. Ample serving size considering I took about 3/4s or more of it home since I was by this time stuffed.
My first reaction to my boyfriends pepper steak though was, "Where are the peppers?" Although there was not a pepper in sight, the steak was tender and of excellent taste. The gravy looked like a gravy was good and it was topped with mushrooms with a side of rice and broccoli and carrots. (The broccoli tops were water logged and quite a disappointment. The veggies definitely needed seasoning as well.)
Onto the service. We had a lovely waitress and her service was very good with one exception. She reached over our plates to get our glasses to refill the water. A full on reach over! A standard no-no.
All in all though, we enjoyed our little neighborhood outing and would go back to this tex-mex restaurant rather than trek across town for our regular one! The deficiencies noted above can easily be corrected. I write this in the hopes the manager will read it and address the issues. This could be an excellent restaurant with just a little tweaking.
We started by trying to pull into the last of three handicapped spaces in the parking lot. Unfortunately it was too small for our car, unless we wanted to leave our rear end sticking out in the parking lot entrance. We opted for a space at the rear of the parking lot instead.
We walked inside and strike number two was not hard to find---there was no designated hostess. Understandable in this economy, but our wait time to be seated certainly could have been shorter since there were empty tables and our only impediment to being seated was the fact there was no hostess. A please seat yourself sign in place of the one urging us to wait would have been appreciated by these handicapped patrons who had just opted for the aforementioned parking space at the end of the parking lot. If your not going to seat people promptly, let them seat themselves instead of having them ogle the empty tables.
Well, once we got our seats the chips and salsa came. Clearly, this must be a plus right? Wrong...the salsa was judged to be canned (at least I hope it was by the taste of it.) The chips, lets just say not the best tasting. Half of our chips and salsa went uneaten (by a duo that has been known to polish off 2 orders of free chips and salsa in other tex-mex restaurants.) I think the restaurant fell into the trap of if we give it away free it can be of any quality...I'm not so sure that is a good trap to be in, but I'll move on.
Ok. So now it was time to look for some pluses so I inspected the silverware looking for any good news. Voila...clean, sparkling silverware. Score one for the S. A. Bar and Grill !!!
With that, I pronounced I would reserve my final judgment until my "gems" arrived which is what I decided to call my appetizer and main course. I had concluded this was a neighborhood restaurant that simply must be putting all of their energy into the delights their patrons order. So I patiently waited for my shrimp appetizer. Not too long of a wait either. Another unexpected plus!
The sauce was impeccable. I recognized the appetizer as one I order regularly at my other tex-mex restaurant with just a different name. This one had more bread, a plus, less butter on the bread, also a plus since who needs the extra calories when you're going to use the bread to sop up that delicious sauce. My only complaint was the shrimp had not absorbed the sauce. It tasted like they were just thrown the shrimp in the sauce at the end. But, I got past that!
Now, all I had to do was wait for what I hoped would be our last two gems...my chicken quesadilla and my boyfriend's pepper steak. I was not disappointed. The quesadilla was quite good. Ample serving size considering I took about 3/4s or more of it home since I was by this time stuffed.
My first reaction to my boyfriends pepper steak though was, "Where are the peppers?" Although there was not a pepper in sight, the steak was tender and of excellent taste. The gravy looked like a gravy was good and it was topped with mushrooms with a side of rice and broccoli and carrots. (The broccoli tops were water logged and quite a disappointment. The veggies definitely needed seasoning as well.)
Onto the service. We had a lovely waitress and her service was very good with one exception. She reached over our plates to get our glasses to refill the water. A full on reach over! A standard no-no.
All in all though, we enjoyed our little neighborhood outing and would go back to this tex-mex restaurant rather than trek across town for our regular one! The deficiencies noted above can easily be corrected. I write this in the hopes the manager will read it and address the issues. This could be an excellent restaurant with just a little tweaking.
