5 special eveings out...a summary

h'lo all,

My wife and myself have recently had the good fortune to have experienced 5 special evenings out for dinner at a series of "fine dining" restaurants in (or near) Louisville. 4 of the 5 evenings were as a result of a visit by her mom, over from Europe.
Now that Mom's gone back, I thought that I would write a short summary of our experiences with these venues, in the hope that others might benefit from our experiences....good and otherwise.

In order to keep this post from being too lengthy, I'll simply give you the occasions and my "marks" for each, here. If you have questions about one or more of them - and how I arrived at their marks - please respond to this post and I'll give the details, o.k.?
Here goes;

EDDIE MERLOT'S
The first was 7:30pm, Friday, Sept. 30. It was my wife's birthday and, as we had not tried EM's to date, I thought we'd give it a go. Arrived on time and were seated straight away.
Cuisine = B+ (this mark was affected (downward) by Service)
Service = C-
Venue = B+
Price = ~$250 for two

LILLY'S
This was at 7:30pm, Friday, Oct. 14. Our first dinner out with my wife's mum.
Cuisine = B-
Service = A-
Venue = D
*Price = ~$260 for three

RUTH'S CHRIS
7:30pm, Monday, Oct. 17 for three.
Cuisine = A
Service = C-
Venue = A
Price = ~$360 for three

LE RELAIS
7:30, Wednesday, Oct. 19
Cusine = A+
Service = C+
Venue = A+
*Price = ~$270 for three

HOLLY HILL INN (Midway, KY)
7:30, Friday, Oct. 21
Cuisine = A-
Service = B-
Venue = A+
Price = ~$310 for three

(* got Louisville Originals points at these places)

That's it then. All in all, my take is that; we have some very good chefs, cooking some very good food, in some very nice venues, but...we still come up a bit short on service. Some of the service faux pas's seemed to result from lack of experience/knowledge and some seemed to result from overbooking&understaffing. And some from "attitude".

Anyway, hope some of this info will be helpful, feel free to respond for details, if you'd like.

b myers, composer

Sounds like some excellent chow, despite a few bumps on service here & there. I wish my mother in law would take me to a few of these places!

Thanks for sharing this with all of us.

[Robin Garr]

Good report, although of course it makes us want more!

Why only a D for Lilly's venue? I've always been fairly smitten by it, although with the bar in one room, I expect some tables are "better" than others.

You know Robin, I too think Lilly's has a charming spot, but the last time I ate in the main dining room the tables were so close I felt I could have reached over and taken a bite from the other table. And the one time I ate in a booth in the bar room the bench was so narrow (and I am a "well-endowed girl") I couldn't help but rest my endowments on the table. Both of these instances have been a few years ago.

Now the last time we ate there we were at a table in the bar area and it was spacious both at the table and in comparison to our neighbors. This was more recent.

All I know is I want ol Willie's job. $1500 in food alone in a month... thats more than my mortgage payment. lol ..... also what were some specific points of service that you did not care for?

Willlie, as a retired teacher, I see your post more as a report card than as a summary. I'd love to read about some of the details that lead to those grades.

That's an intriguing report.

Details! We need details!!

Interesting report - Lilly's a "B-" for cuisine and Ruth's Chris A? In our experience Lilly's has consistently delivered beyond our expectations. I find their food creative with a regional flair - service has always been dead on. I like the coziness of the place.

On the other hand steak is steak and while Ruth's Chris certainly does a fine one - it's almost never going to get a top rating from me because in the end - it's meat and the less they do to adulterate it, usually the better it is in the end. Get me some prime beef and I'll do a better one at home.

We love Le Relais and always have; however, over the last couple of years they've focused on an economical "bistro" menu that has limited the creativity. Still excellent but less daring than in years past - they seem to be ramping it up over the past few months and I hope they return to their former status soon. In the end no argument from me in giving positive kudos.

I think it's important to note that food is not a contest - ratings can be useful but subjectively they have a potential pitfall as well. I'm a bit uncomfortable giving grades because the dining experience is too complex for me to sum up in either a number or letter. I'll leave ratings to the pros and just express an opinion from the amateur ranks.

In our experience Lilly's has consistently delivered beyond our expectations. I find their food creative with a regional flair - service has always been dead on. I like the coziness of the place.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. The Lilly's "report card" above baffled me. To each his or her own. Generally, in a restaurant considered a bad, uncomfortable venue, you won't see many older folks patronizing the place. I go to Lilly's a whole lot (like, a whole lot - 90% of the time to sit at the bar and snack and drink) and the dining room is consistently peopled with older and elderly folks. So there is my totally unscientific assessment of what makes a venue comfortable. But then, we don't have any detail from the original poster on what made the venue get such low marks.

In our experience Lilly's has consistently delivered beyond our expectations. I find their food creative with a regional flair - service has always been dead on. I like the coziness of the place.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. The Lilly's "report card" above baffled me. To each his or her own.

The one comment we have about Lilly's is that - unlike many other local places - she ALWAYS shoots for the heights; unfortunately, when one always goes for the top on occasion a dish or two can come out with a miss rather than with a hit. We still can admire the effort - and the results are never truly "bad" - but we have had the occasional miss there.

I will never understand giving Ruth's Criss's an "A" . . . I absolutely hate the hot plate that means any steak will be well-done by the time you finish it. All I can think of is that when one has such a limited menu one better do it well.

unfortunately, when one always goes for the top on occasion a dish or two can come out with a miss rather than with a hit.

You make a good point here.

apologies, all....detailed response(s) to follow this weekend!

first off, sincere apologies to all who've responded for being so tardy with my promised response(s). suffice to say that, despite the animosity that many of us hold for Christian Laetner (!!), the Duke Univ. Medical Center is truly a miraculous place, doing miracles on a daily basis. I experienced it my self last week.
now, back to the foodie issues!

Good report, although of course it makes us want more! Why only a D for Lilly's venue? I've always been fairly smitten by it, although with the bar in one room, I expect some tables are "better" than others.

I'm *really* glad you asked about this, Robin... this one really surprised us, as well, as we've had nothing top topflight experiences at Lilly's. It's the reason we selected Lilly's as the *first* dinner out with the mother-in-law.
The problem was that, in a nutshell, it can often be dicey when a restaurant pushes two, 2-top tables together to create seating for four (or three). We've all become accustomed to having tables shoved together at "the pub", etc., but we really didn't expect it at a fine-dining venue such as Lilly's. Things can seem fine as the evening starts out, but It doesn't take too much of a crease between the two tables to create a situation where wine glasses, etc. can start to wander and make for an ..."adventuresome" evening! That was our case as I had to make "adjustments" on the placement of the two tables a number of times during our visit, as the waitstaff had gone missing. It was just one of those (admittedly small) details that can distract throughout the meal and leave one feeling that the evening just wasn't what it *could* have been.
And, as for the "B-" on food? My wife and her mum loved both of their off-the-menu entree's, but I went for a special (trout) that turned out to be so dry that I had to make use of the small bottle of olive oil that was on the table(s) for the bread. Otherwise, all of our food was wonderful.
So, would we go back? You bet, it's still of of Louisville's best, but next time we will request (and insist on) a proper table for 4....

..... also what were some specific points of service that you did not care for?

ahh Jamie, where to start?!
At Eddy Merlot's, a waiter who; (a.) missed 2-3 of the specifics of our order that had to be chased down later, (b.) after I had requested an extra for my steak ("au poivre" sauce), didn't bring it on the side as it should've been, but rather, drowned my steak in it, requiring me to scrape most of it off of my steak and (c.) the kicker...brought the wrong bottle of wine and, when it was pointed out, responded with "oh sorry...I don't go by the names....just the numbers..." ((hmmm..., maybe next time I'm getting a red burgundy in Old Town, I should just ask for a "106"?!))
At Ruth's Chris, no offer to check coats (on a rainy night), items ordered that were not brought to the table without a follow-up, and essentially two head waitresses - - neither of which had a clue as to what we had already told the other?
And at Le Relais, our waiter who told us about a soufflé on offer for desert, but failed to mention the prep time (and advance ordering) necessary to prepare them. As a result when one of us asked for it with the dessert orders, we were *then* told it would be 25-30 minutes. Not good....
There were a handful of other, smaller incidents but that would get me off on to another post(!) ((heaven forbid, some are praying!!))

So, for now, I'll finish up with this....a couple of you asked about my using a "grading" system and a couple noted surprise at Ruth Chris's "A" for food. I did the "grading" system as I didn't want the initial post to be too much of a "play-by-play" and I wanted it to generate some discussion...which it has!
And my grading was done based on "expectations" and *everyone* started with "A"'s. That is, Ruth Chris got an "A" for food, as all of their dishes were up to expectations. Not better...but not lesser.
And, believe me....having the mum-in-law in for a couple of weeks on her 1st KY visit, I wanted *all* of these venues to be "A"'s, across the board. As it turned out, they weren't but I will have to say that we (Louisville) did ourselves proud and it was an allround wonderful visit. Just a few things - mostly service - for our "fine" dining choices to "fine" tune.