Boathouse Rotisserie and Raw Bar - Chattanooga Tennessee

You can find the Boathouse Rotisserie & Raw Bar, as the name would suggest, at 1459 Riverside Dr, Chattanooga, TN 37406 overlooking the Tennessee River. The views, especially from the deck and many windows, were quite good - you can see the touristy duck boats plying the watery sights, a neighborhood across the river and part of a park. Parking is out front and to one or more sides (building sits on a hill) - there seems to be plenty, at least during this late afternoon visit - I imagine they get quite packed in the evenings.

I was here with with local family (niece, nephew, pair of small kids, Mother-in-Law and father) and my also visiting brother and his wife and the restaurant had no problem seating us quickly, we waited less than 10 minutes while they got a table ready. The interior is very comfortable with rustic wood wainscotting and red painted walls - the theme is nautical and the full bar expansive. Menu offers up what you would expect in local catch (trouts and other fresh water fish like catfish) and an assortment of shellfish, shrimp and ocean catch. They also have chicken in various forms, salads and sandwiches.

I started with a Bloody Mary  and asked for it spicy - it wasn't very but you could tell they at least tried - it came with an bouquet of things to much on - Spanish olive, lime wedge and whole celery stick - I in general liked the mix but a bit more Tobasco would have made it perfect for me. I paired this up with some oysters on the half-shell - they were quite fresh but probably could have used a dunk through some brine to rinse off the silt.

The plates were all very large and filled to the gills, especially with the string fries. I tried everyone's selection and as you would expect, the fried fish was excellent. The Trout Almondine was better than expected, one of the best I've had in a while. They also serve up a big slice of sourdough bread - crusty on the outside, chewy full of air pockets on the inside that was quite good. I also liked their black beans and chimichurri which came with some of the grilled and fried items. The slaw was the super-fresh style, more cabbage than mayo - I liked it but it probably could have used either more acid (my preference) or more fat to make it creamy.

Service was good if not exceptional - good when the server was around but she allowed some water glasses to empty. Very kid friendly but I suspect this becomes more of a drinker's world in the evenings, especially late weekend evenings hanging out on the decking, drink in hand. I'd rate the overall experience, ambiance, food, service close to 4/5 so rounding up to 4.

(also posted to Yelp)
 

Urban Cookhouse - Sandy Springs Georgia

You can find Urban Cookhouse at 4600 Roswell Rd Ste G-100, Sandy Springs, GA 30342- this is the newish shopping center achored by Sprouts Market. Parking is out front and down several side streets - this place gets swamped, particularly on the weekends so you may have to walk a bit but generally there's plenty of parking on this end of the shopping center.

Urban Cookhouse is a fast casual restaurant that features farm-to-table ingredients in an earthy, American style. You'll find all your favorites here and several opportunities for sandwiches, salads and lightweight pastas. I've eaten here on several occasions and all of them have been okay-to-good, with hot food a bit tepid rather than hot. My first experience was with a group of friends and I was underwhelmed - my second was a bit better so I'll give this 3/5 stars.

I think the service here is good overall with fairly fast food delivery. I thought the portions slightly on the smallish side. Most of the meats are cooked on a Big Green Egg so there's a smokiness to them that was quite good - the chicken is not though (not sure why?). The second time I tried a salad and liked it quite a bit. Overall this would not be a bad choice if you were in the area - however with Tupelo Honey and Cheeky Taqueria within walking distance I'm not sure why you would bother, unless you were dying for macaroni and cheese?

(also posted to Yelp)

Cheesecake Factory - Dunwoody at Perimeter Mall - Atlanta Georgia

You can find this location of the Cheesecake Factory at 4400 Ashford Dunwoody Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30346 towards the northeastern corner of Perimeter Mall (far right when facing the main entrance from Ashford Dunwoody Rd). Parking is easiest from the lot to the right in front of Dillards department store and walking across, unless you want to pay the valet but you'll still end up walking a bit so I'd advise you to forego that inconvenience.

I have a feeling that most of you have had the experience of the Cheesecake Factory - the first built (and now closed and replaced by a different location) in Buckhead at one time was the highest-grossing restaurant in the US. I believe this location was the second or third built in Atlanta and it's a really fantastic location. The interior has a fantasy array of Byzantine columns, wonderful fantasy-like wall sconces and very feminine fresco-like murals on a warm tan stucco adorning the ceilings - quite nice and it will make you feel a bit like you've entered a Disney theme park restaurant, however much like said-park the experience hardly meets the promise. I've worked in this area of Dunwoody for 15 or so years off-and-on so I've had many occasion to eat at this Cheesecake Factory. It's not a bad place to meet for special occasions as they can accommodate large parties - for my most recent visit I met with many coworkers for a bittersweet occasion - a member of our team was leaving for another work opportunity.

When you are seated you'll be presented with a booklet of many, many items and now I'll voice my biggest gripe. The menu is much too large - I mean it's so big that there's advertising on some of the pages - is it a menu, or a catalog? I really don't see how any restaurant can offer so many dishes and hope to do all of them well. The last thing I want to see is a binder full of pages - where do you start? What's good? What's not? Too many choices.

The food here, and I've tried dozens of items, is passable - no real standouts from the many appetizer or entree sections. I honestly can't recommend any one item as something that's your missing or something you can't get elsewhere and I think this is where the restaurant's identity takes a hit. You're sitting in this fantastic setting yet with one exception, the food is pretty humdrum. We'll get to that exception shortly. I do like the basket of bread that they bring out - something about that wheat bread I really like. But then again, don't come here for the bread. When I think about the food here it reminds me a bit of TGI Fridays. Not that they are all that similar, but the food is very formulaic which is both a good and bad thing. It's good in that there's usually some semblance of food balance - starch to fat to acid ratios are good. It's bad in that the combinations are a bit tired - not much magic here. For mall food it's good and certainly better than the food court - of course you're paying more for it as well. Back to the Fridays comparison - I think the food here is better than Friday's as it's less snacky and more of a meal. Satisfying but not awesome.

The exception of course are the desserts. I am not a big fan of cheesecake - it tends to sit very heavy with me, but I'll concede that the cheesecakes here are exceptional. I also like the Sunday and the ice cream in general. And maybe that's the point - I mean it is called "The Cheesecake Factory" so perhaps everything leading up to the dessert is just the build up to the big finish? But if so, why the phone-book menu?

My final point is about the service. I find it very hit-or-miss. I've received both exceptional service and horrible service and it doesn't seem to matter what size the party is - sometimes the service is amazing on a group of 20 and terrible on just two. No rhyme or reason for it. I've had so many orders get screwed up here and it's really unclear if it was the server or the kitchen. I've had tables where everything showed up together except one lost plate and it took 20 minutes for it to appear with everyone either finished or sitting in front of cold plates, to wrong items showing up, to meals with food restrictive (bacon) items showing up with extra (bacon), etc. When service is good the server is usually very attentive and fixes any mistakes quickly. When service is bad you can't find the server and the attitude is really crappy. Like I said, hit-or-miss.

So what's my final overall opinion? I think The Cheesecake Factory is exceptional for their desserts. The appetizer and entrees are mediocre but palatable and certainly better than mall food. The service hit-or-miss. Would I eat there again? Sure as it's close and useful for certain situations. Do I find myself wanting to go here? No. On a scale of 1-5, it's a fairly solid 3 due to the desserts.

-- John

(also posted to Yelp)