Let's start with a first impressions again. You walk in to a classic steak house decor with deep rich wood and muted, sophisticated upholstery. The linens are dark, and the dinnerware is a contrasting white, making for a classic upscale appearance. We arrived at 5p.m. on Tuesday June 8th, and aside from 3 other services had the restaurant and the waitress to ourselves.
I'm going to start with one of my pet peeves here, free refills on soft drinks, iced teas and common low cost beverages should be standard. If you're to cheap to keep my glass filled, I get the feeling I'm being overcharged for my meal too, and I am way less likely to come back.
Overall the meal was primarily under seasoned, although nothing stood out as unpalatable, it was the same way in the positive where nothing satisfied the "WOW" factor you expect at an establishment where you pay for above average cuisine.
The menu;
Starters:
Silver's Appy Platter including;
- 2 pounds of wings (lemon pepper and BBQ),
- Snow crab mushroom caps,
- BBQ pork ribs (Greek lemon and herbs),
- Spinach dip with pita points,
- Veggies and ranch dressing.
Silver's Seafood platter for 2 including;
- 2 Soup of the day (Cream of cauliflower),
- 2 lobster tails,
- Scallops in dill cream,
- Spicy Cajun prawns,
- Diefenbaker Trout, Rice,
- Green Beans,
- Buttered spinach.
- 1 Tomato crab (bisque on the side).
Dessert:
- Triple chocolate cake.
- Caramel and pecan flan.
- Bread pudding with rum and butter sauce.
Review;
Starters:
We had 2 types of wings, Lemon pepper and BBQ. It appeared the wings were baked and then sauced, and the size seemed smaller than average. The Lemon pepper had excellent flavour, although a bit small and dried out during the cooking process. The BBQ seemed less dried out as the sauce compensated for any cooking mistakes, and I found the flavour slightly on the vinegary side but not altogether unpalatable.
The Snow crab mushroom caps were supposed to be stuffed caps with crab, asparagus and cream cheese, topped with a delicate cheese sauce. What we got was very light on crab, cheese, and seasoning, but heavy on the not well executed bechamel. (For those unfamiliar with a bechamel sauce, it is a rich sauce made from flour, butter and milk, which can then receive other flavourings like cheese to make it a cheese sauce.)
The BBQ pork ribs (Greek lemon and herb) were exceptionally tender and well cooked, however once again the lack of sufficient seasoning left us unsatisfied with them.
The Spinach dip with pita points was one of Drew's favorite, however I found the dip much to stiff for proper dip-ability, as well as having what I felt was a stronger flavour of spinach than I cared for.
Well what can I say about Veggies and ranch dressing, standard every day Ranch (no alteration from the standard, and definitely not home made), baby carrots, and thin celery strips. No bad, but nothing upscale about it.
I bumped the Tomato crab bisque to the top of the list here because honestly here is where I was expecting the break out "WOW" factor that I was talking about, especially after hearing that their Lobster bisque was "Blow your mind good". This was a nice thick, rich, tomato based soup, served with excellently done home made crackers. I really only had 2 problems with this soup, 1.) Not enough crab flavour, and 2.) unbalanced flavour profile (It was much too acidic). Both of these problems are very easily addressed, 1.) simply add more crab shells when making the broth to intensify the crab flavour, and 2.) and simple fix to counter an acidic tomato sauce or soup is to add something sweet to balance it with. Try it when you make you're next tomato sauce, throw a teaspoon or two of sugar in with it and watch how much smoother it is.
I only had one spoonful of the Soup of the day (Cream of cauliflower), and once again I found this under seasoned. The soup itself was a thinner consistency than expected, but the vegetables decent sized and were not mushy.
I'm not sure how or why, but the Lobster tails were of course good, just for some reason not nearly as good as the last one I had at Red Lobster, which seems very strange to me.
I think you'll find a theme running through my review, and the Scallops in dill cream continue that being sadly under seasoned, plus the sauce puddled around them on the plate (which is more a presentation faux pas than a problem with the sauce.)
The Spicy Cajun prawns had a nice spiciness to them, but it was one dimensional with no balance to the seasoning. It was like all they did was sprinkle cayenne and paprika on the shrimp and call it "Cajun", it really left me disappointed.
I was very curious about the Diefenbaker Trout, because I've never had a deeper lake trout before. Well to be honest they could have slapped a piece of salmon on the plate and called it trout, because it tasted more like salmon than what I ever imagined trout to be like. I may be wrong, but I really think that's what they did. I have to say though, the sauce for the "trout" was very good and actually well seasoned!
I have to say that the Rice was also well seasoned, and was unfortunately one of the high point even as a side dish.
The Green Beans were perfectly cooked, and served along side a well seasoned rice and trout they were very good!
The Buttered spinach was better than expect, but absolutely nothing to write home about. It take guts and talent to serve spinach, because if you don't do it right you can really mess up the whole meal experience. Well I'll say this, they had guts.
Dessert:
I cannot speak to either the Triple chocolate cake, and the Caramel and pecan flan. But they both looked very good and my wife and son seemed to enjoy their desserts.
I had the home made Bread pudding with rum and butter sauce. I was thankful that my dessert was neither too sweet, nor too rich, and although I thought it lacking for adequate amounts of rum and butter sauce I found it an enjoyable finish to the meal.
Overall I was underwhelmed by our experience at Silver's Steak House. Proper seasoning was lacking in many of the dishes, and it did not live up to neither our expectations nor the menu's build up of the dishes. Standard quality for upscale prices, and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.
May all your meals be dine-o-mite.
Bob
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