Girl Nosh visited the Block Bistro with a small crowd a few months ago. We started with 10 and had to change dates due to a family emergency. When we rescheduled everyone had full calendars. Such is life.
Honestly, it might have been a stroke of luck, since that was my only complaint of the night: the time it took for us to get our dinners. We’ll get to that.
First, the place is off the beaten path. I love that. It is tucked back in a neighborhood, and if you weren’t looking for it specifically, you’d have no idea it was even there. Parking was sparse. We found some parallel parking nearby, but I can imagine on a busy night that might be an issue.
The signage when we were there wasn’t clear. I wasn’t 100% sure I was in the right place, but went on in since nothing else was around where GPS said the restaurant was. The signage points to the bar upstairs.
We began with cocktails. We relied on the waiter for recommendations, and they didn’t steer us wrong. Very good bartender!
The choices for appetizers were few, but what we had was executed well and delicious. Our table had fried green tomatoes and crab cakes.
The salad course was a wedge salad. This is a really well executed salad. The wedge is lightly grilled, then topped generously with bacon, red onion, blue cheese, Roma tomatoes, drizzled with honey balsamic reduction and dressed with blue cheese dressing. This was probably my favorite dish of the night.
Our dinners were great, too, once they arrived. For some reason there was a disconnect between salad and main dish and we waited a very long time. I got the shrimp and grits, which were delicious, but very rich. The sauce the shrimp was in was made with cream, which was different from what I was used to, and made the dish a bit heavy. It’s a solid dish, just beware: it’s a lot. The grilled fish and the sandwich were pronounced great too.
Dessert was for me, just OK. We split these two selections (all they offered) with the table. I was not wowed by either, so would skip if asked again.
If you are looking for a restaurant that is a little quiet, off the beaten path and has a solid menu with dinner selections and casual choices for a pub bite, this restaurant is perfect for you.
barenakedchefsaidso.com 