Disappointing
Written: Oct 14 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice atmosphere, semi-formal
Cons: Quality-Price
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| catheline's Full Review: Chillingsworth |
Brewster, MA is a lovely little Cape Cod town, with lots of Art galleries and a nice resort, Ocean Edge, where my husband and I stayed for a long weekend recently.
I had been to Chillingsworth a couple of times about five years ago, and had loved it. The food was great, service impeccable. A different experience was awaiting this time around, at least in terms of food. Let's start epinionating, shall we?
THE SETTING
Chillingworth is found on Main Street, it's a small place divided in three parts, including a delicatessen and cafe as well as the formal dining room. Or should I say "rooms." There are a few small rooms in the formal side of the restaurant, each with a couple of small tables of different shapes and sizes, with armchairs or simple chairs as well as love-seats. It feels like you're in a French parlor or boudoir, green, royal blue hues and elaborate motifs as well as antique pieces here and there and tall painted portraits. It's not unpretentious, but is still on a personable scale, nothing grandiose, even a bit cosy with its dim lighting and layers of textured fabrics.
THE SERVICE
We had a very polite woman-waiter who made herself very scarce unless we needed her, at which point she magically appeared. It was nice to have a change from the usual over-bearing service you often see in this type of restaurant. She kept things simple, and did not mention prices when citing the specials, which is something I personally appreciated.
THE FOOD
This is where the disappointment began for me. The food was always good, but not exceptional. The menu is set up a particular way: it is a sort of paradox: a flexible prix fixe menu which allows you to chose an appetizer, a soup or consomme, a main dish (entree) and dessert. It also includes a well-seasoned salad and sorbet in between courses. Where the pricing is a bit flexible is that the entrees' prices vary, but you will usually end up paying about $125 a person, which includes water and a ~$30 bottle of wine, as well as tip. So ~$250 for two people. Not inexpensive, so you would hope the food would be exceptional, wouldn't you? After all, this isn't a great French restaurant in NY.
Let's get on with what we actually ate, my husband and I:
To start I had a foie gras salad, which mainly consisted of house foie gras on a bed of well-seasoned mesclun (a blend of green lettuce, romaine, arugula, mache) which was very good, but a little bland. My husband had Tuna served with caviar; the taste was overshadowed by a mustard sauce.
We each had a mushroom consomme, which had a good mushroom flavor to it but wasn't salty or seasoned enough. It was missing something, and to be honest, I wonder whether it wouldn't have benefited from a little cream, at which point it could hardly be called a simple consomme, right? My glutton's instinct is taking over, I guess!
The sorbet (the French tradition wants a sorbet of the kind, usually just a couple of bites, to be served with brandy, in order to cut through the courses and allow your body to accept the rest of the huge meal. A sorbet of the kind at Chillingworth is just a little pretentious for the limited number of courses served) followed. The flavor that night was grapefruit; it varies every night. I personnally never enjoyed grapefruit, under any shape or form. My husband liked it; he enjoys bitter things.
My entree was a white flounder dish served in a basil and tomato sauce. The dish was good, the sauce as well; the fish was tender and moist and had potatoes and spinach along with it. However, I found the entire dish to be just a little too simple, not refined enough for the restaurant. I would expect to eat this in any little provencal restaurant called "Chez Jules", not in a place that calls itself "Chillingsworth," if you know what I mean. It just wasn't special enough. My husband, the Tuna-Freak, had an ahi Tuna dish, which I had recommended against, and my fears were confirmed: He likes ahi tuna to be basically raw, just the tiniest bit charred, and what he was served was medium rare. He wasn't too happy. It was also served with a sauce he didn't care for too much, "bland" he called it.
Dessert was an Opera cake which was pretty good but could never rival with the Operas I buy from my local pastry shop in Paris...
We were also served a few good petits fours, those little crisp, hard cookies, usually buttery and sweet, with our coffee. Those were good, and I believe they were restaurant-baked.
ALL IN ALL
Don't take me wrong, the restaurant IS very nice, the service IS very good. However, is it because of my French side? I just didn't find it anything out of the ordinary for a French restaurant of this setting and pricing. We did have a nice time, but could have had just as nice a time at a lower-level restaurant. I guess we were expecting a little too much. Where Chillingsworth gains is when you are staying in the area: it is definitely one of the nicer restaurants in the area, and a good way to change from the beach-casual atmosphere.
Decor:
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Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
catheline
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Member: Catheline H-vdBL
Location: Here
Reviews written: 28
Trusted by: 25 members
About Me:
Interests: art, books, food, travel, music, and... anything creative and interactive.
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