http://www.stonescove.com/
 |
| Best flatbread I've eaten yet. |
I've driven by Stone's Cove frequently since it opened and have been hoping to give it a try. After a coworker said she tried it and liked it, I decided last night was a good night to give it a whirl. I was surprised to find that Stone's Cove Kitbar is something fresh and innovative. It's not a chain and is restaurant #1 in it's line. So do they pull off something that no one else in this area has successfully done before? Let's see.
When you first pull up, you step out and notice that there is a charging station in front of the front walkway to the restaurant. In fact, I was so taken aback by what it was, I almost tripped and face-planted. That would not have been a good start to my meal. Upon entry, I surveyed the layout and was a bit disoriented at first. It's normal to see a bar when you walk into a restaurant, but it's weird to not see and end to the bar. There is also not an obvious host station with people greeting you as you step inside. After looking back on the entire meal, I'd recommend that they do something a little different so customers aren't standing there awkwardly as we were.
The entire restaurant is essentially an oval shaped counter wrapped around the kitchen and bar! They call their setup a "kitbar" which for those of you who are a little slow, stands for kitchen/bar. After we were seated, the gentleman explained their setup to us and how servers are also our bartenders. I'm thinking, cool idea. But then he disappeared and was no where to be found for the next 15 minutes. So we decided to attempt to place our order with a guy who was in front of us filling up some chopped vegetable bins. He then passed us over to another guy who took our order, didn't write it down and then messed it up. Luckily I was watching the vegetable bin guy then make my flatbread pizza and saw him dumping raw onions on it after I specifically told the waiter to hold the onions on two of the dishes. I know I'm a pain in the ass, but don't go around taking orders from memory if you aren't going to repeat it back to me or put it in the system properly. That definitely bugs me.
After a little longer than I would have liked to wait on an empty stomach, the food arrived. I quickly forgave Stone's Cove for their transgressions. The first dish was some chicken kebob. I've eaten enough Chicken kebab to last a lifetime but their use of pineapple and a pina colada sauce shocked me. I've never had a pina colada sauce before and let me say that it is delicious and paired really well with the chicken! Next was a greek salad that was about what I expected it to be. Finally was the flatbread. I opted for the spinach/artichoke flatbread and was absolutely stunned by the flavor it delivered. Creamed spinach w cheddar, artichokes, tomatoes, peppers, smoked salt & chipotle lime cream. Of course, if you order it, you probably will keep the red onions on it and have an entirely different experience but it really kicked ass.
We finished the meal with Cove cones, which are miniature fake ice cream cones with mousse and other flavors. These were pretty good and a new dessert for me, so I appreciated their creativity. I'd love to see a third flavor added to the existing key lime and chocolate espresso Cove cone options.
 |
| Cove Cones. Mousse, not ice cream |
The concept of one person not only serving you but also preparing your meal and your cocktails is interesting, to say the least. Most restaurants opt to specialize and compartmentalize things. I think this is for good reason because I can see dining at Stone's Cove being very hit or miss. If your "host" isn't a triple threat (server, chef, bartender) then your meal is going to be what you hope for. As it was, I wasn't even sure who my host actually was since I had four different people taking care of us. And when I say 4 different people, it wasn't like how 4 different people take care of you at a Great American Restaurant like SweetWater Tavern. So the jury is still out with me on this style of restaurant.
While some aspects of my dining experience were hit or miss, the menu definitely is a hit and there are numerous cocktails and food items I'm looking forward to trying. I read that they do a special 20 dollar wine/cheese tasting on Wednesdays and do a 4 dollar burger special on Saturdays before 4. I'll try to report back to everyone after I eat here again. As my friends know, I love small plates and sharing so it's always good to have another small plate restaurant in the 'hood.
Rating - 3 out of 5 Stars
Updated Rating - 3.5 our of 5 stars - Subsequent visits have yielded consistent food and delicious, original cocktails as well as half-price bottles of wine on Wednesdays. I'd still like to see the service improved a notch. Especially since this place is packed at dinnertime most nights now.
No comments:
Post a Comment