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Ate: December 9, 2006 Published: December 10, 2006 $$$ We were feeling brave this week and decided to take another trip into Myrtle Beach's high-profile, high-traffic restaurants. So we headed up Kings Highway and turned into the very large and usually very crowded Carolina Roadhouse. During the summertime, this restaurant is one of those places where hour-plus waits are common. Fortunately, it wasn't so crowded on this Saturday night in December, so we were seated immediately. We only had to be in there for a few minutes to see one reason why the Carolina Roadhouse draws such a crowd. Just like other restaurants we've visited that are owned by the same parent company, the Carolina Roadhouse places a premium on quality service. Even in the slow season, we still saw plenty of staff running around attending to diners. And they were so darn friendly that it was hard not to let them up-sell us on our dinner side dish items. Dinner started with a whole bunch of big onion rings stacked in a decorative pyramid and served with a bleu cheese dip. The rings tasted as festive as they looked. In a rarity for the two of us, there was too much for us to finish. The salads were also quite good, with crisp vegetables, fatteningly wonderful dressings and trademark honey-glazed croissants. My wife's main course was a steak and shrimp combo with two medallions of filet mignon, eight huge fried shrimp and hushpuppies. She especially appreciated the way the shrimp were lightly breaded with flour instead of corn meal. She let me eat a few of her shrimp, and I had to agree about the quality. She couldn't say enough about the medallions, describing it as being like butter. I'd also ordered steak this evening. Mine was a sirloin that had been marinated (according to the menu) in fruit juices, garlic, soy sauce and spices. I'll have to take their word on the specifics, but I can vouch for how good it was. The marinade had soaked into the beef and gave it an excellent, distinctive tangy flavor. Each of us had also gotten a loaded potato with butter, cheese, sour cream, bacon and chives. With the appetizer and salad, we barely made it halfway through our main courses before having to take the rest home with us. There wasn't going to be any desert for us tonight. Even we were stuffed. The operative word for the Carolina Roadhouse is "big." Big dining room, big portions, lots of helpful wait staff. It is easy to see why they have waits of an hour or more in the summer time. If you have the time and the patience, it's worth the wait. |
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