Thoughts of LoWriter

Saturday's Restaurant Pick

In an attempt to create another recurring article, I will let you in on my Saturday activities. A group of girls I went to college with and I go to a new restaurant every Saturday. The rules so far have been that none of us can ever have been to the restaurant in question, and the prices must be reasonable (i.e. less than $20 a plate). We rotate who picks. Whoever chooses the restaurant drives to the restaurant. We came to the conclusion that we've never eaten bad food on these adventures. (This may or may not be because we simply like food.)

At any rate, this week it was my week to pick, and I chose The Highland Grill on the reccommendation of some of my close friends.

The Highland Grill is situated near the corner of Ford and Cleveland in the Highland Park neighborhood (right across from Barnes and Noble and Patina). You can park in the B & N parking lot because it is not actually B&N's lot, as far as we could see. (The limit is 2 hours.) When you get there, the door is weird, so you have to push the automatic door opener button (I don't know what those things are called) in order to get in.

Once inside, the place has sort of a fifties diner meets mom-and-pop-hole-in-the-wall feel. You seat yourself.

The menu is very ecclectic, but I think they are known for their breakfast, and in particular, for the waffles. They also serve breakfast all day. We ordered dinner anyway, and it was fabulous. I had the portebello mushroom sandwhich with sweet potatoe fries. They had a wonderful chipotle dipping sauce for the fries that was spicy enough to off-set the sweet taste of the potatoes. The sandwhich was also pretty amazing. I actually had to eat it with a fork because it was open-faced and was so loaded with mushroom, red pepper, cheesy goodness. We ordered dessert, and it wasn't quite right (I know nothing about the pudding-esque concoction known as creme breule, but I thought it tasted fine), but the waitress comped it, so that was all good.

The prices were pretty reasonable. I wouldn't say we paid any more than we would at a Friday's. They also offer a half-priced wine night on Tuesdays. If you can't finish a bottle, they will also cork it back up for you so that you can take it home.

The service was fantastic. Our waitress had a pretty dry sense of humor, and she kept the Sprite coming, which is always a good measure of how good the service is. We overheard her say to the booth behind us, "Was it everything you expected and oh, so much more?" which was possibly the best thing I've heard a server say in a long time. Granted, we go early in the evening (usually we try to go at 3 or 4 in order to beat the rush and combine lunch and dinner), but they seemed to have a lot of staff waiting around for the dinner rush.

On the whole, I'd give the place a 4.5 out of 5 stars. The napkins are towels, which I thought was a little weird. The door is slightly confusing, and I could see how the place could get crowded in a hurry because the tables are really close together, but on the whole, there was nothing in my experience that I didn't celebrate. Good food, good service, good prices, and a good location make this restaurant a hit in my book.

Posted by LoWriter at November 9, 2005 03:21 PM