Search the internet for restaurants in Mason, Ohio and you will get two options - Chain or Asian. While there is no disputing that Mason offers some great independant Asian restaurants, they are lacking much else for those who enjoy the unique qualities that non-chain restaurants offer. Tony's hopes to fill this glaring hole.
Tony brings his knowledge of steakhouses, earned through years in Jeff Ruby kitchens, north. The wine menu was large and had a good mix of prices, but I tried something different and got a cocktail. If only interested in a drink I highly recommend a stop at Tony's, no where else in the Warren County are will you find such a unique list of cocktails. I tried the rootbeer refresher which contained Vanilla Vodka-rootbeer vodka- and coke. The drink was strong, but there was no way you could drink this without thinking of a delicious root beer float, combining classy and whimsical.
Like any steakhouse you are not going to get out cheaply, but you will not be disappointed. We had meals that crossed the menu - Scallops - Quail - and a Filet. All three were so good that no one wanted to share. The filet was requested rare, and it was, but still had a nice crust that sealed in all of the flavors. The quail and scallops were nicely coupled with summer flavors. Unlike most steakhouses the food came with sides including buttery delicious mashed potatoes with the steak and quail.
We splurged on the creme brulee which was good, but nothing special. We probably should have tried the cannoli which Tony's mom makes.
Tony was everywhere talking to customers nad ensuring that everything was going well, which I enjoy. Our waiter was excellent. He was there when we needed him, answered all our questions, but was not overly pushy or involved in our dinner.
Tony's wife did the decorating, and I am not sure I understood her plan, but this is not a big part of the dining experience for me. There are about ten different types of lighting, all were nice on their own, and the room was properly lit, but I can't figure out how it all goes together.
Overall I would highly recommend that you save a trip downtown and stop at Tony's for your next nice meal out.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
More BBQ
The Silver St. BBQ in Lebanon is the newest addition to the BBQ scene in Warren County. There can never be enough BBQ and Lebanon is lacking in any restaurant offerings. With these two thoughts in mind I have anticipated this restaurants opening since it was first rumored to be opening.
There are many pluses to this new restaurant. The open kitchen concept lets the customer see the care put into the food, unfortunately for Silver St. it also lets the customer see that the kitchen staff is woefully unprepared to handle a crowded dining room.
The dining area is well put together and large. Everything was clean and a place where you would be happy to bring your family(suprisingly this is unique for Warren County BBQ).
The menu is reasonable with burgers, chicken, pulled pork, brisket and ribs. There are all of the the expected sides beans, coleslaw, mac and cheese and cobbler.
The food quality was good, but nothing to write home about. The brisket and pulled pork are clearly done in-house and had good flavor, but lacked that finger licking good quality their Landen competitor offers. All of the sauces were good and brought more flavor to the meats.
The sides that we had were average. The mac and cheese and cobbler both cost extra, and are not worth the charge. The baked beans were good and loaded with pork, hard to go wrong.
I think the largest problems stem from being a newly opened restaurant, but for many of us you only get one shot and unfortunately Silver St. did not take advantage of their one shot with many customers.
The restaurant was busy, but not packed. The wait staff and kitchen were clearly not prepared. We waited nearly 50 minutes to get our food. I am all about eating slower, but when you are catering to a lunch crowd this is unacceptable. The blame could be spread around, our waitress was sweet but inattentive. The kitchen was overwhelmed with only two guys that clearly couldn't keep up. In addition there were menu items that were unavailable, notably iced tea. I have made iced tea a million times and it takes all of 2 minutes, the lack of staff prevented them from keeping their standards up.
I am happy that Lebanon has a new restaurant, and I wish them the best, but they must improve their service and serving time to succeed. Their quality cannot compete with Landen, but if they can improve in other areas they might have a chance of sticking around.
There are many pluses to this new restaurant. The open kitchen concept lets the customer see the care put into the food, unfortunately for Silver St. it also lets the customer see that the kitchen staff is woefully unprepared to handle a crowded dining room.
The dining area is well put together and large. Everything was clean and a place where you would be happy to bring your family(suprisingly this is unique for Warren County BBQ).
The menu is reasonable with burgers, chicken, pulled pork, brisket and ribs. There are all of the the expected sides beans, coleslaw, mac and cheese and cobbler.
The food quality was good, but nothing to write home about. The brisket and pulled pork are clearly done in-house and had good flavor, but lacked that finger licking good quality their Landen competitor offers. All of the sauces were good and brought more flavor to the meats.
The sides that we had were average. The mac and cheese and cobbler both cost extra, and are not worth the charge. The baked beans were good and loaded with pork, hard to go wrong.
I think the largest problems stem from being a newly opened restaurant, but for many of us you only get one shot and unfortunately Silver St. did not take advantage of their one shot with many customers.
The restaurant was busy, but not packed. The wait staff and kitchen were clearly not prepared. We waited nearly 50 minutes to get our food. I am all about eating slower, but when you are catering to a lunch crowd this is unacceptable. The blame could be spread around, our waitress was sweet but inattentive. The kitchen was overwhelmed with only two guys that clearly couldn't keep up. In addition there were menu items that were unavailable, notably iced tea. I have made iced tea a million times and it takes all of 2 minutes, the lack of staff prevented them from keeping their standards up.
I am happy that Lebanon has a new restaurant, and I wish them the best, but they must improve their service and serving time to succeed. Their quality cannot compete with Landen, but if they can improve in other areas they might have a chance of sticking around.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
BBQ Restaurants
Pork is a central focus of my culinary world, and BBQ is the center of the pork world. It is difficult to make BBQ bad, but it is equally hard to make really good BBQ. In a short review of Warren County I have tasted the extremes.
LANDEN BBQ - This is about as close to perfect BBQ as I have tasted. Delicious homemade pulled pork, huge serving sizes, multiple sauces, it is excellent. Decor and ambience mean little, and that is good here(as they have neither). The only real complaint is the sides which are secondary and largely ignored, but the meat is so good no one really cares.
GRUMPYS in Morrow - Grumpys looks like our kind of place, no real decor, big signs saying BBQ, unfortunately the appeal ends there. The menu has little to offer, which is fine if you do them well, but the pork was not good. It is basically like the BBQ pork you can get at any fastfood restaurant. The side dishes added nothing as they were all from cartons. To add insult to injury the portion sizes were too small to appease anyone and they charged $1 for credit card charges. All in all a bad experience.
LANDEN BBQ - This is about as close to perfect BBQ as I have tasted. Delicious homemade pulled pork, huge serving sizes, multiple sauces, it is excellent. Decor and ambience mean little, and that is good here(as they have neither). The only real complaint is the sides which are secondary and largely ignored, but the meat is so good no one really cares.
GRUMPYS in Morrow - Grumpys looks like our kind of place, no real decor, big signs saying BBQ, unfortunately the appeal ends there. The menu has little to offer, which is fine if you do them well, but the pork was not good. It is basically like the BBQ pork you can get at any fastfood restaurant. The side dishes added nothing as they were all from cartons. To add insult to injury the portion sizes were too small to appease anyone and they charged $1 for credit card charges. All in all a bad experience.
Warren County Review
Warren County may be one of the fastest growing counties in America, but the amount of quality restaurants seems to be lacking. We will analyze the restaurants that are best, worst and everything in between.
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