Critic's Review
I really didn't want to come back to this place; it's an uncomfortable "restaurant" and their food isn't worth the price. But I'm running out of places to go locally, and I didn't feel like going to far today.
At 2:15 there was only 1 car in the lot, so that was a plus. Just 4 people in the place so I didn't have to sit in the middle of the room.
The place is more like a Starbuck's than a restaurant; a place to have coffee or a meeting; not much for eating a meal.
I wouldn't want to eat a $60 dinner for 2 at one of those tables in the middle of the room. I ordered an iced tea; they have lemon but they're very cheap with it. No lunch menu but they can't give me a full wedge of lemon with a $2.50 glass of colored water.
The Soup of the Day was lentil, so I ordered that with the mussels. The $14 skirt steak I had last time is now $18; it wasn't worth $14. The soup came out shortly.
Bland, bland, soup needs salt. Once seasoned properly, the soup wasn't bad. It had some unexpected potatoes in it, and was a bit light on the lentils, but overall better than some I've had. It wasn't worth $6. Maybe $4.50. Typical for the place.
The mussels didn't come out until I was done with the soup, in contrast to my experience at Carrabba's yesterday. Good thing because the tables here aren't big enough for 2 courses at once.
The mussels were very small; but there were a lot of them. The broth was savory with lots of chorizo. The green peppers didn't belong, but dipping the garlic toast into the broth created a flavor sensation.
This was a good dish; and a good value. Very surprising considering the lack of value in their menu generally.
My check was delivered without the part that I had to sign. One peeve was that every time my server delivered something, she disappeared behind the fireplace for long periods and I couldn't wave her down. With 1 person in the dining room there should be no waiting for anything.
Conclustion
Restaurant prices and a coffee shop atmosphere; no difference from last time. Decent food with indifferent service. This is a very mechanical operation. Virtually exactly the same as the first time I was here.
Review 10/18/12
The big thing about the Chimney house is that it's a renovated house and it has a big fireplace in the middle of the room. Actually, a chimney is the part that is OUTSIDE the house, and the chimney on this house isn't all that impressive. But so much for semantics; The Fireplace House isn't a very good name for a restaurant.
They have a small parking lot, which could be a problem during peak hours; at 2:10pm there were a couple of spaces. You can also park across the street as they have a deal with a neighbor.
When I walked inside, I was a bit surprised. I expected it to be more like a house; instead it looks more like a Starbucks.
A bunch of tables in a smallish room; notwithstanding the fireplace, the hostess tried to seat me in the middle of the room in front of the counter, but I steered myself to a larger table in the corner. I looked over the menu, which is made up of a mixture of peruvian and other South American dishes. The menu says that their churrasco chimichurri is done with a flat iron steak, which sounded interesting. I didn't notice that they had sangria by the glass for $5; so I ordered an iced tea.
The tables here don't have any salt, pepper or condiments; the iced tea was dropped off without sweeteners. I got my server's attention before she darted off, and she returned with salt, pepper and sweeteners. Interestingly, the iced tea was served with lemon instead of the lime you usually get in latin places.
There's no bread at The Chimney House; just an empty table and the Bossonova lightly playing as I waited. The dining room was half full; I'm having a steak in a coffee shop, I thought to myself. The steak took about 10 minutes.
It didn't hit me right away; but this wasn't a flat iron steak; this was a lunch sized skirt steak. Considering that they charge restaurant prices I thought the thimble of chimichurri sauce wasn't enough. The steak was properly cooked medium rare as ordered, but it didn't have any particular seasoning. Once I got it salted it was pretty good. The chimichurri wasn't garlicky enough. I did like the rice/beans cake; they cooked together (Moros y Cristianos). I had to ask for another thimble of sauce.
No refill on the iced tea, despite the glass being empty when I asked for the check. The check comes in a big fake book box; It's not clear how it fits in with the theme.
My impression is that $18 for this is just too much. There's nothing special about the place, and I didn't get anything here that I couldn't get at any other latin place in town for $10 at lunch time.
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