Let's just make it official, okay?

Raise your hand if you automatically become a restaurant critic every time you walk through any eating establishment. I do it each and every time so I decided to tell you all how I feel about the places I eat. I've decided, starting now, I'm officially a Food Critic. Just ask the guy who was waiting for his wife to come out of the bathroom. I gave him the CliffsNotes version of my critique while I was waiting for Ryan. PS this was really scandalous for RJ for some reason. Maybe because I don't carry a badge? I don't know. It was funny for me though.

Last night, Ryan had some tickets for the annual Steak and Lobsterfest. What he didn't do was confirm the day on his tickets. We actually have tickets for the annual Steak and Lobsterfest for tonight. We already had the babysitter lined up so we decided to try the new restaurant in town that we've been meaning to go to. The restaurant is in a hotel that was recently renovated. We went to a wedding at this hotel in December. The bride was gorgeous, the speeches were funny, the groom was charming, the parents were teary-eyed, but the food. You guys. The food! I have never, nor will I ever again eat food like this. It was a classic menu of prime rib, roasted baby potatoes, salad, vegetables, pasta salad. I know. Doesn't sound very gourmet. But it was. The prime rib was juicy and full of flavor and the potatoes were perfect. It wasn't the menu in itself that was amazing, I think it was the preparation. Amazing.

Needless to say, we have been anxious to try the new restaurant. It's called Firestone and you should go. Here's why:

1) The Atmosphere was really comfortable but still upbeat. The music wasn't too loud which is important. Ryan gets yelled at enough at home, he should be able to have a break while we're dining out. The biggest annoyance for both of us was the seating situation. There were booths and tables all over but the main walkway had booths on one side and tables on the other. Not regular tables, romantic tables for two with side by side seating. Umm....we've been married for 10 years, we don't need to brush thighs while we eat. While the walkway did make for good people watching, it made us feel like we were on front row seating for the booth beside us. Seriously. No thank you. Where do you look when you're sitting and waiting for your food? Straight ahead. There were way too many awkward eye locks with the people beside (in front of?) us.
Overall I gave the Atmosphere 4 out of 5.

2) The Service was okay. When I sit down to eat I like to immediately have a drink order. If I ran a restaurant, I would have the hostess carry a pitcher of water with her as she seats people. Even if you want to order a Diet Coke, there would be water available at all times. I'm serious, it would make all the difference. One night we were out eating and the waiter/waitress didn't even come to take our drink order for 1/2 hour after we were seated! We left. Jerks. *Side note: that restaurant has since gone out of business. Hmmm.* This waitress last night was pretty good about the initial drink order, but we had empty water glasses way too often. The appetizers did come within a couple minutes after ordering though which was really surprising. The main course felt like it took longer than usual but I think I'm going to blame that on the fact that we were sitting there on our front row seats, drooling at the table beside us.
Overall I gave the Service 4 out of 5.

3) The Bathrooms were very impressive. I firmly believe that you can judge the quality of a restaurant by the bathroom. While on a weekend getaway with the kids one year we went out to eat lunch. Before we left I took the kids to visit the bathroom and I was seriously horrified. I swear when I was looking around I could hear the classic "RHEEE RHEEE RHEEE". There was, *ahem*, brown stuff EVERYWHERE!!! On the floor, on every part of the toilet, the walls. I'm not even exaggerating at all! I'm curious about what the guilty party looked like after creating that kind of catastrophe. Did they even survive? I grabbed my crying, scarred children and told Ryan that we needed to go get some kind of shots from the hospital. Or our stomachs pumped. We told the management and they didn't seem too bothered by it. I wish I knew the name of that restaurant but I must have suppressed that bad memory. Seriously. Bathroom cleanliness is a must. This bathroom was super cute (and clean) with individual chandeliers in each stall, a couch and TV (I thought they only did that for mens rooms), and while I was washing my hands, an employee came in to straiten up. Well done, Firestone. Well done.
I gave Bathrooms 5 out of 5.

4) The Food and Menu was amazing. This is our new favorite restaurant because it has everything and the prices were really reasonable and huge portions (thank you guy waiting by bathroom for that little insight). On the menu there was a steak section, pizzas, sushi, chicken, unbelievable salads, unique starters....seriously everything. It had tons of items but it wasn't overwhelming because there were so many sub categories. I have a hard time deciding what to eat so a menu that is ADD-friendly is important. Another thing I like to see is a knowledgeable server. If I'm having a hard time deciding, I like to ask my server what they love. If they know the menu they can give honest suggestions. I did ask and she did know what she was talking about.
To start, we ordered Mini-Yorkies which were yorkshire puddings filled with shaved roast beef served with a horseradish dip. The horseradish was kind of sweet and it added a good flavor to the roast beef, not the usually spice of plain horseradish. Super yummy. The Lobster Spinach Dip was surprisingly fresh. Usually spinach dips in restaurants are overloaded with cream cheese but in this one the cream cheese was a supporting character, as it should be. I ordered Avocado Rolls and they were HUGE. I was so full after eating them. They were definitely up there with the best sushi ever. I'm going to learn how to make good sushi. So many people are mis-informed that sushi is only raw fish. It's so much more people! Ryan got the Half Roast Chicken and he said it was good. It wasn't too memorable, but come on. How exciting can you make roast chicken? It's either good or it isn't in my opinion. The plates were really cute too. I like cool plates. For dessert we got Them Donuts. They were cute little home-made donut holes that were dusted with powdered sugar and came with three dipping sauces: chocolate, raspberries, and a butter rum cream. Brilliant. I was too full to finish these (yay for me, Ry doesn't like dessert so I didn't even have to share!) so I'm pretty excited to dig in to the leftovers. The donuts were really light but crispy. The chocolate was, well chocolate. Chocolate gets a good rating by default. The raspberry sauce tasted like it was just crushed raspberries. There wasn't any sugar or anything. I love fresh tasting food. The cream wasn't my fav, but it was okay. One thing I have to mention from the menu. I think when you only have seven items on your dessert menu, you should have all kinds of options. On this menu, they had two items that had a chocolate/raspberry theme. This brought on quite the discussion between me and RJ. One item was a chocolate cake with a raspberry mousse and chocolate sauce. The other was kind of a chocolate fudge with raspberry sauce. Yes they are totally different desserts but the fact that they are both chocolate with raspberry isn't okay with me. It's the same flavor combination repeated. I don't care how different the dish is, mix up the flavor flav. Okay Ryan? That's the way it is. (love you!)
I gave the Food and Menu 5 out of 5.

All in all Firestone restaurant got a 4 out of 5. We will definitely be going back there. And soon...