"To start, we ordered the Hickory cheese fries as an appetizer. At $10, we expected more than just a standard-sized order of fries topped with melted cheese. On closer inspection, we noticed they were bathed in something resembling batter—though we couldn’t taste it. In the center, there was an excessive bowl of BBQ sauce alongside a strange-looking dollop of what appeared to be a white, mayo-like substance. We still don’t know what that was.
When we ordered the fries, the waitress asked for our meal choices, but we specifically requested to stagger our courses so we could enjoy them one at a time. She acknowledged our request. We ordered some soup and salad along with our entrees, reminding her again to space out our food. However, before we could finish our appetizer, she brought out the salad and soup, despite our request to wait for our entrees. And then, barely five minutes later, she placed our hot meals on the table, leaving them to cool while we finished our soups and salads.
There was a $4 upcharge for the salad and soup with each meal. The tomato soup was a nice blend of minestrone and tomato, and the salad was fantastic—I can't remember which one I had, but I ordered it with dressing on the side and loved it.
For our entrees, I ordered the Chuckwagon meatloaf, which came with garlic mashed potatoes and veggies. The garlic mashed potatoes were good, although I would have preferred them without the butter in the middle. The vegetable medley consisted of zucchini, spinach, onion, peppers, mushrooms, and possibly more. However, the meatloaf was served at room temperature and I had to scrape off the ketchup; it felt odd because they served BBQ sauce with the fries but used ketchup on the meatloaf. It was also cut into two thin pieces, flat on the plate, which made it look like a TV dinner without the tray. I can only imagine how much better it might have been if it were served hot, as we had requested.
We also tried the Campfire steak with the same sides. The steak was good, I think, but it was overwhelmed by an excessive amount of aioli—so much that it resembled a pasta dish, but without the pasta. A little less aioli on top and a bit more on the side would have made a huge difference.
What about the cornbread that was supposed to come with the meal? Initially, we asked the waitress about it since it was listed as an appetizer, and she assured us it would come with our meals. However, it didn’t arrive until after we finished eating—four tiny cornbread muffins for the two of us. I want to emphasize how tiny they were; all four counted as just one normal piece of cornbread. It’s cornbread! You’re a steakhouse—how can you serve miniature muffins instead of decent cornbread?
We truly wanted to love this place, but that’s exactly where the disappointment lies. We left feeling let down and reluctantly gave a $5 tip on our $63 bill (before tax). To top it off, the restaurant was freezing cold! When we mentioned it to the waitress, she opened the air conditioning cover to reveal it was set at an icy 63 degrees!"
