Interesting Cuisine but Lackluster Service - Uncas American Indian Grill
Written: Jan 26 '07
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Pros: Native American twist on traditional American cuisine that can be quite tasty
Cons: Expensive, Slow and inattentive service, Noisy atmosphere near front
The Bottom Line: If you manage to be there on a night that isn’t that busy and you don’t mind slow service, the food is well worth a try
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| jps246's Full Review: Uncas American Indian Grill |
The Uncas American Indian Grill serves up a fusion of standard American cuisine with Native American recipes. The results are generally quite solid, but lackluster service and large crowds tend to bring down your overall dining experience.
A definite improvement over the previous restaurant located in the area (Mohegan Territory), the Uncas American Indian Grill is a decent restaurant with good food that suffers from generally poor service. It's best if you can get there on a quieter night at Mohegan Sun (weeknights), when there are fewer crowds and you're more likely to get more attentive service.
Where do I find the Uncas Grill?
Located in Mohegan Sun’s older Casino of the Earth (the round one), on its outer circular ring, the Uncas Grill is located to the left of a small nickel slots room and to the right of the food court area. Immediately in front of the Uncas Grill is the Chief’s Bagels, which is a small take-out eatery for bagels, sandwiches and coffees that is open 24-hours.
When can I eat at the Uncas Grill?
During the week (Monday through Thursday), the Uncas Grill is open from 11:00am to 12:30am, Friday from 11:00am to 1:30am, Saturday from 9:00am to 1:30am and on Sunday from 9:00am to 12:30am.
What is there to eat?
I have to admit that the first time I ate at the Uncas Grill, I was a bit taken back and had a hard time finding something that I wanted to eat that didn’t sound like something I wouldn’t want to eat. There are plenty of traditional favorites like turkey or burgers, but they are generally prepared in keeping with Native American recipes. It’s not that I had anything against this kind of food, but I had never eaten it and therefore didn’t know what to expect.
Thankfully I did try it and have been impressed with the choices available since then. I’ve only come across a few things that I haven’t liked, but overall, the menu is interesting and creative and provides meals that you probably wouldn’t find anywhere else.
The menu has been adjusted over time, with more standard meals available today. There’s an extensive selection of appetizers, pizzas, entrée salads, sandwiches and burgers, and entrée dinners, all of which are generally quite good.
There’s plenty to chose from in each part of the menu. For the appetizers we tend to stay traditional and have gotten the potato skins, the buffalo wings and branching out we also tried the turkey timber, which was supposed to sort of like a stuffed turkey pancake. The old standbys like the skins and the wings were good, though I wouldn’t get the turkey timber again, it tasted okay but for the portion size and the cost, it just wasn’t worth it.
The appetizers tend to run small here – so don’t expect to be feeding a table of 8 people with a single appetizer.
The pizzas are nothing special, but are a good choice if you’re trying to feed a group or just don’t feel like anything else on the menu. There are a few different kinds of pizza available, but we’ve always just stuck to the traditional cheese pizza.
The entrée salads follow along the lines of what you’ll find at most other restaurants, though for lobster lovers there is a lobster salad. I have had the grilled chicken Caesar salad a few times and enjoyed it – the portion size being big enough to satisfy me.
There are a whole series of deli sandwiches and burgers available at the Uncas Grill. My partner’s favorite is the Chief G’Tinemong sandwich, which is roast beef, turkey, swiss cheese, Russian dressing, lettuce and tomato. Of course he gets it without the Russian dressing and with mayonnaise instead. There’s several other sandwiches including a corned beef or pastrami sandwich and a turkey BLT. The deli sandwiches all come with chips and coleslaw.
The burgers are all pretty basic – but come in three different flavors – a steak burger, a buffalo burger and a turkey burger. On those, you can pretty much add anything you want. There’s also a grilled chicken sandwich, a lobster salad club and a lobster roll available. The burgers and sandwiches all come with fries and coleslaw.
I generally get the grilled chicken sandwich, which comes with fries and coleslaw, but I’ve gotten the turkey burger too and was surprised because it wasn’t that bad. I usually find turkey burgers in restaurants to be none too exciting, but they managed to spice their burger up enough that it was good.
The entrée meals cover the traditional favorites like roast turkey, meatloaf and roasted chicken. These meals generally come with potato and a vegetable. There are cast-iron skillet meals that include turkey pot pie, ribeye steak and a steak skillet. Here the meals are cooked in cast-iron skillets to add to their flavor. For seafood choices, you can either get salmon or the fresh catch, roasted on a cedar plank. Finally, there are three pastas available, a lobster & pasta, a lobster macaroni and cheese and finally the chef’s pasta, which changes daily.
I’ve enjoyed the roast turkey dinner and the ribeye steak is also quite tasty. Not being a fish fan, I’ve watched others enjoy the salmon and my partner loves the lobster and pasta dish.
The deserts are much like you’d find at most similar restaurants and include bread pudding, a cheesecake selection, chocolate cake, apple pie and Indian pudding.
The brunch menu is fairly standard with most breakfast items like eggs, omelets, french toast and pancakes available.
What am I going to pay here?
You’re in Mohegan Sun so nothing is going to be inexpensive at the Uncas Grill. I’d expect to spend upwards of $20 per person, even if you aren’t ordering alcohol. Appetizers run anywhere about $8 to $13 (more for the shrimp cocktail which costs about $4 per shrimp!). The pizzas run from $11 to $13, while the entrée salads go from $13 to $18.
The deli sandwiches average about $11, while the burgers and the chicken sandwich are $11 each and some extras on them cost extra. The lobster roll and club are both $17.
The dinners run from about $14 upwards of $25 and depending upon what the catch of the day is and its market price, could go even higher than that. The two lobster pastas are both around $26 each, while the pasta of the day is priced daily.
If you want to add sides to your meals expect to spend about $3 each.
The deserts on the menu go from about $5 to $8.
Of course there are also drinks to spend money on and the Uncas Grill does offer a full-service bar, so you can get anything from water, to soda to just about any mixed drink that you’d like. There’s also beer available on tap and in the bottle.
On an average visit with a couple of appetizers, drinks, our meals and desserts, we spend between $30 to $40 per person. If we’re in for lighter meals, we can generally get it down to around the $25 per person level.
The Uncas Grill accepts the points you earn while gambling at Mohegan Sun (through their players club) so you can pay either the traditional way with cash or credit, or you can use your players club card to subtract the cost of the meal from your point balance.
Service…
The biggest let down at the Uncas Grill is the service (or lack thereof). It was much the same way at its precursor and we had hoped when that was closed and the Uncas Grill opened, that the service situation would be improved.
From my experiences there, I can’t really say it has been. Wait staff seem at best inattentive, meal pacing is not that good, and in general, the overall service experience almost always detracts from your dining experience. Our worst experiences have been with wait staff who seem to forget that they have tables and take forever to bring out refills or follow-up after food has been brought out. There’s also been times when there have been unbearably long waits between the time the various courses have been brought out.
Wait times to get into the restaurant can also be quite long – with your best option stopping by well before you plan on eating to put your name down, since the Uncas Grill doesn’t take reservations.
Ambiance
The restaurant looks good and is decorated much like a Native American lodge. The lighting is subdued, but it is never too dark anywhere in the restaurant. The only real distraction is the fact that the front of the restaurant is wide open to the casino, which allows for plenty of casino noise to filter in and can make it hard to carry on conversations or just have a quiet meal, especially if you are seated towards the front of the restaurant.
Final Thoughts
If it just came down to the food, I’d give the Uncas American Indian Grill four stars for its inventive and tasty interpretations of standard American fare with a Native American twist. Even the ambiance and setting of the restaurant is pretty cool and the noise from the casino isn’t that bad, especially if you’re in the back of the restaurant. The food and the ambiance combined – I’d probably go with three stars.
However, when you add in the lackluster service that seems to accompany every visit here, I have to drop my overall impression of the restaurant and only give it three stars. The lack of reservations is a pain and the generally inattentive and uncaring service can really be bothersome at times. When considered all together, nothing makes this restaurant more than average and sometimes its even below that.
That said – if you manage to be there on a night that isn’t that busy and you don’t mind slow service, the food is well worth a try.
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: No
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations Put your name in when you first arrive if its busy
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