Mike and I have been to Hendel's before, but I don't think I've ever had it in my blog.
It is a nice (nice, casual...you could wear a nice shirt and jeans) restaurant in a neighborhood in North County. It sits right across the street from Sacred Heart of Florissant church.
I saw online that there was going to be piano music on the patio from 5:30-8:30. So, we arrived at 5 and asked to be seated on the covered patio (it was good that it was covered because it had been raining off and on all day). The hostess said it would be 25ish minute wait. We went to the bar for a drink. The bartender was lovely and Mike had a very informative discussion about gins. But the hostess was WAY off. When there is piano music...people linger. We waited about 85 minutes for a table.
But it was lovely out there. Since it had been rainy that day, it wasn't hot. It was now about 6:15 and we had coupons for a free appetizer and a free dessert! Holly, our server was great. We ordered a bottle of wine and a couple more cocktails and the spinach artichoke dip for an appetizer. The chips were made with fried pita bread. They had cheese (parmesan, I think). The chips could have used a sprinkle of salt. They weren't bad, but they didn't have much flavor. The actual dip was just...meh. There wasn't much to it. Mike and I were both a little disappointed.
Earlier at the bar I had a glass of the house cabernet. Ooooo, I didn't really care for that. Mike had again and tonic with some European gin and a Mediterranean tonic water. He liked that! So, when we went outside I decided to try something else. I had a Paloma. It has grapefruit juice in it. It was good...not amazing. They also have a peach sangria on tap. While we were sitting at the bar, I asked for a taste. Oh, it was super sweet. If you are a super sweet drink lover...this is for you. It tastes like peach and sprite combined. It is what some people would like to drink with brunch...or sitting outside when it is hot. Too sweet for me.
We found a nice bottle of wine for a good price. Usually wines that rank in the 4.0+ range on Vivino are $50-70. This one was $42. It was called Requiem.
For supper Mike got the Burnt Ends Mac and Cheese. He said the mac and cheese was good, but he expected the "burnt ends" to be from a barbequed brisket. He expected bbq flavor or smoke. He said these just tasted like a roast. They weren't very Burnt Endsy.
I got a fish sandwich and FF. It was good. The FF are big steak fries and I like fries like that. I took 1/2 of my meal home.
Because we knew we had a free dessert, neither of us finished our dinner. We shared a piece of chocolate/peanut butter cake. It was rich and yummy. Sorry about the photo...we started eating it before I remembered to take a picture!
This place has great atmosphere. The food is good, not great. I find the dishes hit or miss. I'd still recommend it.
NOTE: They have a waitlist that you can get on from home. That was our mistake. We should have done that. See their website.
No comments:
Post a Comment