Two Reviews for This Weekend

This weekend I will tell you about two restaurants Julie and I have dined at. One we have been to before and the other is a new experience for us.

I'll start with the new one...The Harbor Room at the Riverview Plaza Hotel in downtown Mobile. The Riverview is currently going through a 64 million dollar renovation. From what I saw, they have done a great job. The final part of the renovation should be finished shortly, a new crown and spire to top the hotel tower. From what I understand, it will be of similar design to the crown and spire on the recently built RSA tower a couple of blocks north.

While the food was fantastic, the service was mediocre. I was considering one of the salads on the menu, but wanted to learn a little more about it. I asked the waiter..err bar tender, yes, I think we were relegated to being served by the bar tender for the evening, "Can you tell me a little more about the Benton's Bacon and Potato Salad?" and he replied "what do you want to know, it is Bacon and Potatoes on top of vegetables." Not quite the detailed description I was looking for. Besides this incident, the service he provided was pretty slow.

After checking the menu out, Julie decided on the filet ($32) and I decided on the seared scallops ($25). When we ordered, I was informed they were out of the scallops. It would have been nice for the hostess and/or the waiter to inform of of the several items that were not available this night so we wouldn't have waisted our time deciding on items we could not get. Since they let me down on the scallops, I just order the aforementioned salad ($9) and I ordered the Rock Shrimp appetizer ($14) as my main course.

All I can say is that the salad was spectacular. It was a small mixed green salad, topped with cubed potatoes, large chunks of thick cut bacon and a small over easy egg. Delicious! Julie's filet was supposed to be a 10oz cut and I must say their scale must be off. If it was less than 16oz I would be surprised. It was huge, and very tender and flavorful.

As ar as desert, we cannot comment on, as the menu didn't seem appealing to us, so we passed.

In summary, the food I give a 10, but the service maybe a 4.5.

Next is Noell B's, also in downtown Mobile, which has been open for a little while now. When it first opened, as you can tell from their outdated website, they were primarily a sandwich shop. The first couple of times we went their we had various sandwiches, which were ok. But for those of you that have read this blog in the past, you know how I tend to favor Lenny's Sub Shop for sandwiches.

Tonight, we decided to try their entrees. We stared with soup. Julie had a cup of Tomato Basil and I had a cup of Chicken Tortilla (both $4.99). For our entree, Julie had their special of the night which was Shrimp Pomodoro over pasta and I had the Chicken Marsala ($20.99) served over herb roasted potatoes with house vegetables. We opted for desert tonight as well. Julie had their Key Lime Pie and I had the Fried Bananas Foster (both $5.99). All of the food was excellent.

The service was great. Our waitress, Addie, was humorous, fun and attentive to our needs. I only have one complaint which hadn't been a problem in the past. The layout of Noell B's has an open bar area connected with the dining room. Tonight there was a large crowd gathered there drinking, prior to the Jethro Tull concert around the corner at the Saenger Theater, and several of the crowd were smokers, which I don't have much tolerance for.

Food gets a 10 and service gets a 9.