It's oh so fun to check out a brand new restaurant, especially before you've heard much of anything about it and especially with good friends. So off we went, all high-spirited for a night out with friends Lisa & Chris. We made early reservations so that we could even squeeze in a movie. Reservations at 5:30, movie not far down the street at 7:30.... (alas, the 7:30 movie wasn't to be--not nearly enough time to get through dinner.)
My first impression of Chandlers was adult, edgy and somewhat upscale. I think that's because of the cool blue lights surrounding the rows and rows of vodka bottles when you first come in the door. Many of the tables are deep booths, which is cozy but not necessarily as "edgy" of a look as the vodka bottles lend. Since our reservations were so early, we had no trouble getting immediate friendly service.
We started with drinks and a couple of appetizers. Chris had the mohito (good, not too sweet), Mark had a beer from many on-tap options and Lisa and I decided on wine--but which one? Our server wasn't sure either (pleasant server, but new) so she sent over Eric the wine captain to talk to us about Malbecs. Eric was knowledgable and fun to talk to about wine. We ended up with a great Malbec (Kaiken, $24) thanks to him. Chandlers appetizer list was ok, almost everything was seafood except for the grilled artichoke. We chose lobster cakes with avocado mousse and grilled artichoke with garlic aioli. Both were tasty. The lobster cakes were particularly good, the artichoke was ok, there was a bit of a burned flavor that I could have done without.
The dinner choices included many steak options (obviously) served ala carte, four "Idaho menus" that include side dishes and dessert, and a couple of seafood and pasta items. Chris opted for steak (the special of the evening was a cowboy steak 14oz prime rib, Mark went for the chicken on the Idaho menu and Lisa and I both chose the halibut...ah, what a choice it was! If I were only rating the halibut, it would get an absolute 5. It was outstanding--just the right amount of dill and garlic and perfectly cooked. Between the halibut and the Malbec, Lisa and I just kept making goofy eyes at each other across the table. Chris ordered a potato with his steak--he needn't have bothered with any other food for the night. It was truly the biggest potato any of us had ever seen in our lives, a bit overkill if you ask me. Mark's free-range chicken was decent but nothing to blog about (ha.) And it appears it was the chicken that spoiled our movie plans.
Granted we took our time with appetizers and drinks, but not overly so. We ordered our dinner at 6:25 and around 6:40 we thought it prudent to tell our server that we were trying to make a 7:30 movie. She said the chicken would take a while, did we want to order something else. What?? Many obvious jokes about catching and plucking the poor bird followed, but we couldn't quite understand how ordering something else after 15 minutes would help and none of us even considered it...it seemed like such a strange thing to say. So we waited. And we waited. And we sent the guys to the theater to exchange our pre-purchased tickets. Finally, about an hour and 15 minutes after we ordered our dinner, it arrived. Yes, the halibut was outstanding, but what the heck was going on in the kitchen? We never even heard back from the server about trying to get us our dinner before our show...it was truly odd. Luckily we had plenty to drink, great company and plenty to talk about besides plucking chickens.
Staying later than we planned allowed us to enjoy the jazz pianist & singer who came around 7:30pm. That was a great touch and very enjoyable. It also allowed us to order dessert and enjoy the one that came with Mark's dinner. Lisa & Chris had a fruit cobbler (rhubarb and blueberry) ala mode, and Mark & I split a grand marnier chocolate mousse. The fruit in the cobbler was a bit crunchy (ugh) and the small amount of ice cream melted on top didn't do much for the cobbler. The mousse was good, nothing fantastic. By this time we'd decided to try a late movie and were getting anxious once again that we wouldn't make it. It took a while to get the check, so even at 9:00pm we were rushing.
Overall, Chandlers will be a nice touch for Hotel 43 and another good alternative for the downtown dining scene. Perhaps the servers will be a bit more practiced and the kitchen will speed up a bit. Until then, go, enjoy and don't have anything planned for later. Oh, and plan to spend your money. We spent $215 for the 4 of us (including tip.) Who needs a movie?
