New Eats: Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen

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I hate to break it to everyone, but this week's review is far less exciting than the Cowford experience from last week. Zach and I headed to Cheddar's for an impromptu dinner last week and were sorely disappointed. I get it...every new restaurant has its learning curves. We were expecting average, slow service, but our unfortunate experience went far beyond that. Food For the record, we ordered totally normal food and I did no prior research on Cheddar's specialties. Honestly, the food isn't even worth discussing. It was somehow a combination of cold and overcooked with average flavors (at best). The spinach and artichoke dip appetizer was the best part of our entire meal but still completely average when compared to other restaurants. Service Our poor server. He couldn't have been over 16 years old and was waiting on close to 15 tables. With sweat drenching his shirt and an overwhelmed demeanor, we only got to see our server about once every 20 minutes.
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New Eats: Il Desco

Il Desco? More like "Eh" Desco. I really don't like writing negative reviews, I mean it. I'm a fan of the Forking Amazing Restaurant Group so it never crossed my mind that the food at their modern Italian restaurant would fall flat. When the bill is over 100 bucks, the atmosphere and food should reflect it.

Drink

 We ordered a yummy full-bodied Tuscan red and it certainly didn't disappoint. I spotted a wine from "Montepulciano" on the lengthy list and I didn't hesitate. I made a quick day trip to this Tuscan hilltop town while spending my summer in Italy and couldn't resist reminiscing on the flavors from that day. 15 or so samples later in Montepulciano and I was totally sold on the town's wine.

Food

 When I see burrata on the menu you can bet I'm ordering it. What can I say...I'm a sucker for cheese
soaked in cream. Unfortunately, the complexity of this dish was that of a brand new chef preparing burrata for the first time. Additionally, we ordered a meatball over Pecorino grits. The grits were delicious and creamy, although the meatball was way too small to be offered solo.

Next up was chicken marsala and short rib bolognese. This may be the first time in my whole life I've been served a chicken breast with no seasoning, no breading, nothing. Saluti to Il Desco for serving the blandest chicken marsala I've ever experienced! Impressive. The short rib bolognese was far more impressive. The homemade Pappardelle was perfectly al dente and the gravy was extremely flavorful.

I haven't had a good cannoli since Italy so ordering this Italian staple was a no-brainer. And guess what? I still haven't had a good cannoli since Italy. Why change a good thing by flavoring traditional marscapone filling with pistachio and espresso? Leave it be. The Italians got it right the first time.

On the other hand, the affogato was fabulous. I'm not sure if the vanilla gelato was homemade, but I enjoyed every bite and sip.

Service

 We had a wonderful server who was extremely knowledgable about the menu, restaurant and highly-anticipated addition to the restaurant group (stay tuned for a Cowford Chophouse review in the coming weeks!)



I give Il Desco a 5/10. Although the wine and service were wonderful, the most important part of a restaurant experience, the food, was unfortunately subpar. My rating would be drastically different if the evening was less expensive. The bottom line is the quality of the food simply didn't reflect the bill.









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