Dinner at Gulfstream Century City last evening
Let me start by saying, I like Houston's food. But last night, our friends chose to eat at Gulfstream. We had dined once before and thought it was a bit pricey, but more than acceptable.
I have some issues with it after last evening.
We arrived on time and they were ready with our reservation, hallelujah, they earn points for this one! Our waiter comes by almost immediately to take drink orders. We had just settled in and hadn't even said more than hello to our friends. Okay, we chose some glasses of vino and ordered a plate of oysters. Both appear very quickly, but before they do he's reciting the specials at a pace so fast it's hard to keep up. We question him and make our order.
Now we're eating our oysters and boom, the grilled artichoke arrives for us to share. It tastes great and as we're just putting the last few leaves in our mouths, the main dishes arrive. Along the way we've requested bread. None arrives. Other tables have it, just not ours. I was told the last time you have to request it, but how do you do that if it's not offered? Finally after 3 requests it shows up with the main course.
Back to the main dishes. DH had the shortribs, two of us had the seared ahi with ponzu, and the final entree was a type of butterfish that was a special. DH liked his shortrib, I found it a bit underseasoned, but prepared well. The other guy really liked his fish, but the ahi was stone cold, cut in small seared chunks with a mild peppery coating. The quality of the fish was excellent, but the preparation left something to be desired. Don't get me wrong, I want my ahi rare, but it has to have some heat on the outside. I also want a few minutes to rest between each course, not a sprint to the finish, especially at those prices. There was not one dish that anyone of us thought was particularly memorable.
I spoke to the floor manager who dropped by our table after our ahi was re-heated and when I shared my concerns about the rush and the timing, she told me that it was intended that one course arrive on the heels of the preceding. They can slow it down if you tell your server. My question is, how are you supposed to know to ask?
All in all we decided we had a competent, good quality meal at equally stiff prices. At $125 a couple, inlcuding 3 glasses of wine and 4 coffees, I would have liked it to have been more enjoyable. Next time I think I'll go back to Houstons.
By compucook
on Nov 17, 2006 04:04 PM
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They do like to turn tables at Gulfstream and Houstons. At their price points I think they could slow it down a bit.
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My last visit to Gulfstream in CC was OK but they changed the short ribs. It used to come with a very nice mustardy BBQ sauce and those great shoestring fries, but now is served over a bed of nondescript mashed potatoes and some steamed vegetables. My companion loved his ahi tuna burger though. I've noticed the menu is much smaller and they now only give you one side with your entree instead of two previously. I hope with their recent change in ownership things don't start sliding downhill.
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What change in ownership are you referring to? Still part of the Houstons/Hillstone Restaurant Group, is it not?!
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Originally they were owned by Houstons based out of Phoenix, AZ, but now appears Hillstone Group which is based in LA
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They just relocated the company headquarters here, as George Biel loved the business here, the climate here, etc. from what I heard. Originally they were based out of Nashville, then AZ, and now here. As they say, go west... and he did!
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Ah, good to know. I was suspicious of the name and HQ location change since the menus seemed to change around the same time. I hope they can continue to keep up their standards.
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I just posted this on another board, so I apologize for the repetition, but I've got to repeat here that my friends and I had a very similar experience. I've got to say that for my part the food was good. The service was exactly as compucook has described:
The server rushed through the specials, didn't bring bread insisted on taking our order even though we told her that half of our party wasn't ready ("let's start with this side then, shall we?" and then brought the main course right on top of the soup. I felt like a barnyard animal. Why not just mix it all together? It all goes to the same place, right?
If you are looking for good service, I don't recommend coming here .
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Oh, and what's the deal with only serving farmed Salmon?
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