March 8, 2007

Dinner last night - JCT Kitchen

This is my first post and I had planned on getting this blog set up better (different colors, more info), but with everything that has been going on I have not been able too. My blog is going to be devoted to dining, shopping and events in Atlanta. Also, parties I give and other info on entertaining. I apologize for the blog not being up to snuff, but I had to write about my experience last night.

Ed and I went to dinner last night at JCT Kitchen over on Howell Mill Road. This restaurant has been written up in Jezebel and got 4 stars in yesterday’s AJC. So I have been really excited to go. Restaurant serves updated Southern cuisine, referred to as “farmstead”. I LOVE this kind of food.

We had a 7:30 pm reservation and were seated promptly. Service was slow from the beginning. A bread basket was brought around with a sweet butter. Personally, I think if a sweet butter is served a container of regular butter should be served as well. Sweet butter was not my favorite.

Drinks finally arrived. The Chardonnay from Australia was interesting, but just OK. The one thing JCT has is a very interesting beer list and if you know my husband this is a plus.

We ordered an appetizer of oyster rockefeller which was very good. Then we waited, and waited on our entrees. Both of us had ordered the fried chicken, which the AJC said was better than Watershed’s version. The entrees finally came, but not before the food runner tried to serve them to another table. Chicken was served on mac n’cheese and garlicky green beans.
The problem is when the chicken was cut into it was RAW. So disgusting. It took Ed awhile to get the servers attention, but when he did come around he already knew what the problem was. Plates were taken away. I reordered the short ribs as pot roast with a side of the mac n’ cheese.

The wait for the re-ordered food was quite long. Meanwhile, we got to watch the table next to us become irate because their bill was messed up twice. Food arrived. Ed ate all of his, but said it was Ok and not as good as Watershed. I ate a bite of the shortribs. They were cooked at least, but not good enough for me to eat more food at 8:45 at night. Mac n’ cheese was good, but no better than mine. Took mine to-go for Ed’s lunch.

Service continued to be slow. Waiter comped the fried apple pie dessert. The bite I had was tasty, but better since it was free. We never order dessert. When we placed the order for the dessert Ed had requested the check as well. It appeared after dessert was finished.

To sum this up, I do not understand why this restaurant received such glowing reviews. I will not go back even though the entrees and dessert were comped. The restaurant needs more staff and has an odd “Pottery Barn” look to it. Finally, whoever was frying the fried chicken was obviously not from the South or event the ATL.