I'd Like to Lodge a Complaint

I think the title tips you off that I wasn't too happy with Lodge in Brooklyn.  As you can see if you click through to their website, they've got the whole trendy, alternative, hipster ethos down.  This website's got it all, a birdcage, a bowler hat, a rocking chair and a typewriter, all in appropriately vintage monochrome print form.  But its williamsburg, so par for the course.  When we get there its pretty pleasant actually and not particularly  pretentious.  Its a pretty decent space with big windows and pleasant servers.  No complaints there.


The menu looked promising as well.  Very standard fare like sticky ribs, artichoke dip, steak salad, pork loin au poivre, fried ravioli, mac and cheese etc.  Definitely not haute cuisine, but it looked like a hearty, simple menu that that should provide some tasty choices.  Then, lo and behold, I saw the special was a grass fed rib eye.  Rib eye is the king of steak; full flavored, tender and riddled with fat.  Glorious fat!  What a lesser patron might cut away in disgust, the true epicurean will pick off their plate with reckless abandon.  The fools.
So, anyway, my entree was set.  And being as I had woken up at 4, had a small breakfast and dinner was at six, Heather and I split an app of artichoke dip.  And she had the meat loaf as an entree.

I'll start with the artichoke dip.  It was OK, and the artichoke was pretty nice and chunky, with decent flavor. It lacked a few things though.  First its wasn't cheesy enough for me.  It needed some, or more, parmesan.  Second, the color and overall appearance was not appealing.  It had the pale yellow color of egg salad.  I know this sounds pretentious, but presentation is an important part of a meal, and when I go out to a nice dinner I expect the kitchen to know that.  I think I can safely say the pic below looks more like egg salad at a church picnic than artichoke dip "with crostini" at a restaurant.

Egg Salad?

Artichoke Dip with Crostini (not available at Lodge)

To be fair, many people at the table really liked the artichoke dip.

On to the steak.  I ordered medium rare and it was served with onion rings.  It was cooked to a perfect medium rare and had a nice crust and a dollop of herb butter.  Problem is, I don't think it was a rib eye.  Just looking at it, it looks a lot more like a NY strip than a rib eye.  I thought, where's all the fat?  Why's it shaped like a "strip"?  Then I took a bite and it was way more lean and tough than any rib eye I've  had.  Now, it may be that this is all because its grass fed beef, which is supposed to be leaner, but I've had grass fed beef before and never noticed a rib eye taste like a strip steak.  The onion rings were ok, obviously fresh made and not frozen.  But the batter was a little bland and didn't adhere well to the onion. When you picked on up, half the batter fell off.  

Below are pics of a couple other entrees.  My friend Chris was very happy with his grilled salmon, Jenna liked her veggie burger and brussel sprouts.  The sticky rib appetizer was very tender, big for an app and very tasty and the steak salad was one of the best entrees.  The steak was tender and the arugula was fresh (though a bit over dressed).  

We missed a picture of the meatloaf, but it was under seasoned, overcooked and a bit on the dry side.  Heather also didn't like the homemade ketchup they used as a sauce.  The mashed potatoes were fine and the brussel sprouts were, according to heather, the "saving grace" of the dish.

The other problem I had with Lodge is they added automatic gratuity to our check for a party of 6 and it was 20% on the after tax total.  I'm not cheap when i tip, and in fact to tip on after tax total.  But in general I don't like automatic gratuity (that's the opposite of gratuity, its just part of the bill), and on a party of just 6 people it seems ridiculous.  Second, if you make it automatic, the restaurant certainly shouldn't presume to tip 20%.  It defeat the whole point of tipping when ANY level of service gets a very good tip.  Our service was good, and  I would have happily paid 20% (as would all my friends) but I  don't appreciate the way it was done at Lodge.  And I know that may all seem like cheapskate nitpicking but its my opinion.

It may seem like this is a rough review, and it was, but there's no point in doing reviews if they're always good.  So good luck to Lodge, I hope that it was just an off night and you continue to be successful.  Don't let one bad review get lodged in you craw.

In closing, the best part of the night was this beautiful and well behaved young lady at her very first dinner out.