SA, Last Restaurant/Place You Ate At (Alamo, West: shoppers, park)

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by Rapscallion

We visited the Roaring Fork last evening. The restaurant itself is quite contemporary and upscale. The entire restaurant is immaculate. The level of service was quite high, with the exception of one bartender who muttered his preference for cabernet instead of my choice of a pinot noir.

The food was very good, but not exceptional. My wife had the pork carnitas, which were good. They were served with fresh pico de gallo and an avocado wedge atop a bed of grated cheese. The included side was a baked dish of black beans sprinkled with grated cheese. These were quite good and the meal as a whole was more than adequate for sharing.

I had the salmon atop a cedar plank. The fish was quite raw, which is how I prefer it, but I don't think it was meant to be served that way. The unfortunate result was that the temperature was never reached to impart any of the flavor of the cedar to the fish. I've seen a better job done at Dick's Last Resort. I substituted spinach for their normal green bean side, and it was very good. I went ahead and ordered their green chili macaroni & cheese as an additional side to take home for the kids. I ordered it based on the recommendation of our server, and it was quite unique and very tasty. Normally I despise mac & cheese, so you know it had to be good. Unfortunately, it didn't make it into the doggy bag. In fact, neither did the tortillas. A sad day for the kids.

I'd say that I'll return. It's an excellent choice for client meetings and the valet service is free.

Went there for happy hour tonight, and $4 off appiteizers (sp?), and $2.50 beer. The food was not bad.

[getgoing2010]

Went to Van's tonight. Had the

Dinner Size Tempura: Actually very good -- divided it between the 3 of us.

Crispy Whole Fish (red snapper) with the black bean sauce: Cooked perfectly, however, the sauce was flat and not a hint of garlic or heat. Unfortunately, the sauce is what makes this dish ($35)

Crispy Duck: Ok, but they've done better (approx $17)

Beef and Scallops: Flat tasting, the dish had 2 scallops sliced in half. Not nearly enough scallop to impart the flavor through the dish. Sauce again, flat. They've done better on this one also.

Nice bottle of $30 wine.

Good Service.

It will be awhile before we go again. They really need to work on those sauces. Worst thing is, with a few additional ingredients they would be turning out super dishes.

Total $115 plus $25 tip = $140

[SATX56]

Can 3 people actually eat $140.00 worth of food??? at one setting??
All this for less than $50.00 at Sea Island and quite good. Except maybe the whine......

[getgoing2010]

lol, actually yes we can, at over six foot each...yes.

[SATX56]

I meant value wise. I have a brother in law a 6' 4" that can pile a plate high twice. Not leaving a scrap. Pretty pricey place I was thinking... Guess I'm jealous. My stomach problems limit me to a child's portion these days. I'm not much of a fish eater but Sea Island is a frequent stop.

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by SATX_GUY

The only Korean place I've been to in SA is KOREANA and it was great. Got the Gal Bi.

Geez every time I see this picture my mouth friggin' WATERS!!! This looks outstanding.

[elnina]

Lunch today: Malt House

[GWhopper]

Okay, This may crack you up.

Went to the G-M Steakhouse in Alamo Plaza for the first time today. The place has been open for almost 50 years. My friend and I have been saying for years we need to try this place, after all, its gotta be a high rent district and this place has survived 50 years, so there's gotta be something to it, right?

With steaks between 7 and 10 dollars, I had low expectations. I have never been happier to say this place not only failed to meet my low expectations, it created a new measurement for "Low" for me in regards to a restaurant experience. Why am I happy? It was like being in the Signfield episode with the soup nazi. Like a bad movie so bad its good, we sat there trying not to crack up laughing. I can't wait to go back!

First off, we walk in and there is a cafeteria-style counter. You order at the counter right when you come in. This means if there is a line, it has to start at the door and go into the street. Coincidentaly, where you take the order is also where they cook the steak. The cook, who looks like he's probably worked there the entire 50 years the place has been open, has some sort of speech impediment. He mumbles. Loudly. Angrily. I had to ask him 3 times to repeat himself every time I asked him a question, which he just mumbled louder and angrier each time, at which point I could make out one or two words and respond accordingly. I ordered the $15 ribeye. They were out, so he told me to order the $10 T-bone, which both me and my friend did, mostly out of fear.

Next I grab a tray and a some silverware and a napkin. Another older gentleman who also looks like he's been there for the place's full 50 year run, reaches over the cafeteria counter and places another set of silverware and napkin. I opened my mouth to say that I already had silverware, but before I could say a word, HE SHOOK HIS FINGER AT ME AND SAID "ONE TRAY!!!" Surly, angry, but not sullen.

We slide down the cafeteria counter to the salad dressing station. This is essentially a metal tub full of ice and 4 salad dressings, and inexplicably, a bowl of fruit. The "one tray" guy then goes and grabs a handful of shredded lettuce and throws it in a bowl, then comes back and gives you the bowl. You choose your dressing and some croutons and move down to the cash register. This is where you discover the "one tray, one ticket" rule. No going dutch here. My friend actually whispered to me, in a frightened voice: "you get this and I'll pay you back when we get out of this line."

These people have a process. And they do not deviate from the process. It's like McDonald's, but with no quality assurance.

Ok, so on to the food. I never thought you could cut a T-bone so thin. It was thinner then my iPhone. My buddy said, "I think both of these together are 10 ounces." I can't say it was a bad steak, I've eaten steaks that simply taste bad. This one had no taste at all. That's when we go looking for steak sauce (we were afraid to ask the staff for it). That's when we discovered that most of the condiments were some bottom of the barrel generic brands. The steak sauce was called "Great Value Steak Sauce." The ketchup and mustard packages (we didn't use them, just saw them) were a brand I have never seen in my almost 40 years of life on this planet. We finally did find some Lea & Perrin's and some A1. We used this to drown the steaks in order to consume them. Also, you would never think a steak so thin could be so tough. My friend pointed out that we've never worked so hard to cut a steak. The baked potato was extremely undercooked and drowning in butter. Don't ask for bacon bits or chives here. Seriously, don't do it! It was lumpy, and no matter how much you tried to mash it down, the lumps just seemed to move out of the way. It was like trying to catch my cat to take him to the vet. Sad to say the baked potato out smarted me. I ate the lumps.

But wait, it gets better! (Everything is actually less than $19.99!)

The menu states that each steak comes with vegetables and texas toast. I got vegetables, but no toast. My friend got toast, but no veggies. my veggies were carrots and they were.....um.....Fuzzy. Seriously, they looked like someone partially digested sliced carrots without masticating them, then threw them up. I found a very large snake in my garage last Sunday. It didn't scare me as much as these carrots. I am not joking. I don't even know how you DO something like this to carrots.

The ultra thin steak was definitely going to leave me hungry, so I went back to the counter to ask for the Texas toast that's suppose to come with my order. I tell the "one tray" guy that I didn't get my texas toast. He asks me "what did you order?".

The place is empty.
We're the only people there.
We are the last order they took.
Less then 10 minutes ago.

I tell him the T-Bone. The guy actually leaves the counter and goes to our table to look at my plate. He then, silently, walks away. I sit down, fearful of my fate. I guess i look like a guy who would steal Texas Toast, but who is too stupid to eat my slice first, and then ask for another. To his credit, he came back with a slice of toast and apologized for forgetting it. Gruffly, but sincerely.

My observation is that they do not have a restaurant supplier, but simply buy the cheapest stuff from HEB. There was a lot of HEB brand Peanut Butter Spread on the condiments table (why? i dunno, but there was an aweful lot of it).

Me being GWhopper, I tried to research this place on the net. Not Surprisingly, there isn't anything about this place. With the exception of the Microwave this place is stuck in 1962. There was a G-M Steakhouse in Austin up until 2005, but I can't find any info that links that place to the one here.

The online reviews rave about the breakfast tacos, which are available all day long. Looking at their operation, I'm guessing that each taco is made fresh and this explains their unexplicable longevity.

I'm not trying to be funny, I can't wait to go back!!! The experience is priceless. And cheap!

[SATX56]

Beats an expensive bummer!!!

[sapphire]

Wow, I'm making plans to go. That was an awesome story!

"What did you order?" LMAO, what you told me to!

Reminds me of an ice-cream shop in DC. It's below street level.....you go in to a darkened shop and try to give your eyes time to adjust before you get up to the counter.........they have about 20 flavors and by the time you're at the 4th one you hear "Vat do you vant?"....well, still looking, thanks...."Vell, ve don't vant the line to grow, pick one."

We decided on wanilla and booked it. How places like this stay in business is truly one of life's mysteries.