City Grill (3 out of 5)

It felt so good to be eating with the intent of blogging about it again. Paying close attention to service, food and atmosphere....ordering multiple appetizers to try as many different things as possible in one trip...and enjoying it all with a good friend. Too bad the food wasn't better.

The last time I was in the National Bank Building on the corner of 8th and Idaho, it was Doughty's Bistro. Yes, that's dating me. And it's also showing my total lack of desire to eat at any of the many restaurants that were there in that span of 7 years or more. Although really, sometimes I had the desire but the restaurants were gone so quickly I didn't have the chance.

I like the big, open seating area at City Grill. There's something about the building that feels really good inside. I was greeted quickly and pleasantly and was thrilled to see all the great-sounding menu items.

We started with the calamari with chipotle aoli and the hummus with soft, warm pita bread (that's the actual menu description.) I've been interested in trying calamari at all the restaurants I go to lately. It's kind of fun to see how differently it's prepared at different restaurants and to try to find my favorite. The calamari and sauce were the best things we had on this visit. A little spice, not soggy, and not too peppery, with a flavorful chipotle aoli. The pita bread really was soft and warm. But the hummus was boring. A hint of garlic, but nothing more interesting than you would find out of a plastic container at any local market.

Uh-oh. Boring hummus and the plates were coming much too fast. We hadn't so much as started our appetizers when our lunch arrived. We made the best of it and kind of enjoyed having a table completely filled with plates. But really it was not how you want to relax and enjoy your lunch.

We asked our (quite attentive) server for a recommendation and he said his current favorite was Aunt Pat's sandwich. One look at the description and my friend, Diane promptly changed her order to that. A grilled sandwich of chicken, gorgonzola cream, pears and more just sounded too good to pass up. I had the Sonoma salad which came with prawns and crab on a bed of lettuce with a lemon vinaigrette. Diane also had a side salad, which came at the same time as our two appetizers. Such fabulous-sounding menu items! How could they be so bland? But my salad's vinaigrette had too much oil and was just plain dull, although the lump crabmeat was really fresh tasting. The salad was screaming for something more, but the dressing was not it. Diane only finished half her sandwich...perhaps it's because she doesn't love white bread, but also because it too was dull. Her side salad was good with gorgonzola, walnuts, cranberries and balsamic vinaigrette.

With so much food, we passed on wine and dessert so I can't say anything about those possibilities. There was also an oyster bar along one wall that looked like it might be a fun place to hang out on a weekend evening. Based on what we had though, we just weren't inspired to try anything more.

Such a great location and a really great-sounding menu. But I couldn't help thinking that the generic-sounding name somehow fit the generic-tasting food. Spice up the name to "City Grille on 8th" or something, spice up the food without being afraid that you won't appeal to all taste buds everywhere and you've got yourself something we might want to try again... City Grill has the potential to last longer than its forebearers, but it's going to have to add some flavor first.