Because I've never done a review before and wasn't really planning to until really recently, I will be establishing a system for this now:
Restaurants will be given an overall score, 1-10, with general explanation, after being graded 1-10 in the following categories:
Ambiance
Service
Menu/Choice
Dranks (I spelled this correctly.)
Appetizer
My Meal
Partner's Meal (do you really expect me to eat alone???)
Dessert
Coffee
I include coffee because I like nothing better than going to a nice restaurant and having an espresso after a nice meal. Sometimes, even really nice restaurants don't have an espresso machine.
This is stupid, and bad. If you are reading this blog and you plan to open a restaurant, before you even buy the building, you must buy an espresso machine. This is good advice.
In addition, "Bill" will be a final category, and will include info on the pricing.
SO, without further ado:
Restaurant Review of Rheinblick German Restaurant.
I'm not going to lie to you and pretend like I know anything about German cuisine, but I do know something about Eastern Europe, and let me tell you: it is very hard for me to imagine anything coming from there that has anything to do with anything OTHER THAN THIS:
(The holy trinity.)
This is because I am Byelorussian, and grew up in a home where I ate these things regularly. This is not to say they were not amazing, because they were, and I cherish them to this day. However, I for some reason associate German food with the same type of thing: really heavy, starchy, filling food. I was incredibly apprehensive when the SO wanted to go to Rheinblick for Valentine's, but in the end let my "aw, what the heck" take over. And we went.
Ambiance: When we went it was pretty late for dinner (8:15pm) and dark, and snowy, but Rheinblick is set on the main street of cutesy historical Canandaigua, smushed in between an alleyway and another shop. This is normally questionably eerie at night, but the warm glow coming from the restaurant windows give a homey feeling to it. To add to this, you enter through the alleyway, in what is basically the foyer of the kitchen. It feels like stepping into Grandma's house. You feel bad for having boots on and dripping on her tile.
Immediately, we were greeted by the smiling owner, who in accented English enthusiastically welcomed us, assured us she had our table ready and had been awaiting us. (In a very kind way, no doubt.) We were shown into the dining room, which was small, but lovingly designed and arranged with the typical German kitsch (steins, postcards, decorative plates, roughly hewn wooden beams). Our table was awesome--basically a thick, square butcher block slab. Love it. I felt like I was eating in this lady's house. SCORE: 9
Service: Our server was nice, but unremarkable. I am pretty talkative and make a lot of jokes, which he sort of not really laughed at/went along with. I think he'd had a long day. The only time he really lagged was at the end, when it took him about fifteen minutes to bring our coffees. That's ok--we weren't in a hurry, but our ice cream was melting. Lame. SCORE: 8
Menu/Choice: Um, YUM. That's what I have to say. The V-Day menu was awesome, with my immediate choice being the Hasenpfeffer, or the braised rabbit in pepper sauce with Spaetzle and red cabbage. They were out of it. Lame. SO had the Entenbrust mit Semmelknödel und Rotkohl (bless you-Roasted duck breast with orange marmalade and mountain cranberry sauce, served with homemade bread dumplings and red cabbage) and I chose the less adventurous Rouladen (rolled round steak stuffed with pickles, bacon, and Dusseldorfer mustard, served with Spaetzle and red cabbage.) The rest of the menu was great too. A very wide variety of meats and fishes, and a ton of schnitzels--which was to be expected. Unfortunately, there was a ton of pork, and we'd had it for lunch, so we felt a little cornered, but we enjoyed everything else. SCORE: 9.5
Dranks: SO had a beer or two in GIANT mugs (also very expensive, for what it's worth) and I had spiced mulled red wine, which was awesome, but after about half a mug gets a little overwhelming. Their beer selection was good, but not as good as you'd think it would be. After all, after dirndls, beer is my second thought about Germany. SCORE: 5
Appetizer: We ordered the Deutsche Wurstplatte –Leona, Leberwurst, and Black Forest Ham with butter & brie cheeses, pickled vegetable garnish and Black Forest Rye bread. Loved it. Fresh, yummy, and did I mention yummy? Prettily arranged and enough for both of us. The liverwurst was great, and I hate liver. But I ate it. I ate a lot of it. SCORE: 8.5 (for lack of variety in cheese--which, btw, wasn't brie.)
My Meal: Ok, I was a little disappointed. I was expecting an enormous pickle+bacon+beef+sauce+mustard flavor, and all I got was...well, just bland sauce+beef flavor. There was no taste of pickle, mustard, or bacon. The spaetzle was amazing--buttery and just perfectly done. I had to liberally salt the meat, and it was a little tough. Again, unremarkable sauce. I am not a huge fan of cabbage in general, especially pickled, so I didn't eat much of mine. But the fact that I ate any means it was GOOD. SCORE: 5
SO's meal: I was so jealous. I love duck, but wanted to try "real" German meat. Mistake. SO's duck was tear-jerkingly perfectly cooked, and his bread dumplings were unbelievably delicious and like me, he just kind of picked at his cabbage. But the sauce was the perfect antidote to the salty starch of the dumplings, which were the consistency or a pasty matzo ball and perfect with the melt-in-your-mouth meat. I am getting hungry just writing about it. SCORE: 8.5 (for the cabbage, which is a little too strong for my tastes, especially on my plate, which was otherwise bland.)
Dessert: We ordered the homemade Neapolitan ice cream, and it was "OK." Nothing special...not even really awesome. Just ice cream. Also, neopolitan anything isn't really German, but we had no room left for the Black Forest cake. Sad face. Their restaurant dessert specialty is actually the Bienenstich, or Bee Sting Cake, but we didn't get this because a) it wasn't chocolate and b) we were, again, too full--but I would recommend this next time. It looked so good, just sitting there on its little plate oozing custard and honey-glazed almonds. As a side note, I love places that have "dessert carts" or plates that they bring around. There is very little stopping me from just leaping headlong onto such a thing and stuffing my face. Maybe on my birthday, I will. In addition, I have also always wanted to say "Just leave it here." and then feasted. SCORE: 5 (for being a little normal.)
Coffee: No espresso machine. Coffee was also pretty weak, despite being a new pot. Sad face. SCORE: 3
Bill: Not too bad...around $85. Worth it? yeah, maybe, if I hadn't gotten the Rouladen.
OVERALL: I give Rheinblick an 8. Great atmosphere, the food is either a SUPER HIT or a so-so regular meal, and the dessert we had was just blah...but it is by far one of the most authentic ethnic food experiences I've had in Rochester. Definitely give it a try....the people are wonderful.
Website: http://restaurant-rheinblick.blogspot.com/
Tata for now!
No comments:
Post a Comment