not bad. i just ate at cork 'n cleaver about an hour ago. found out sounds like reservations are required? thought that was kind of odd. overall experience wasn't too bad. i noticed that all the female employees were required to wear black mid-thigh length skirts (which for a fancier type restaurant like this, i would have expected knee-length) with black opaque tights. never been anywhere where women were required to wear skirts, so that was odd, but the staff all looked very professional and wore ties and button down dress shirts, also.
first impression was good. staff looked great. restaurant looked classy and dim-light romantic type setting. server seemed nice, but iffy, too. "menu" was on a meat cleaver and didn't seam like there was a lot. black cloth napkins with two same sized forks and one butter knife and one spoon. the server explained specialties at the moment, but i didn't have anything to write it down and the specials were not on the menu. she made everything sound so good. when she asked for drinks, my brother ordered a miller light, friend order a mountain dew, and i ordered raspberry tea. i asked the server if their tea was regular tea with raspberry added in. she said it was not and came from the fountain instead. i was a little disappointed with that. i know red lobster (i think olive garden, too) do not have their's in fountains and i've grown to love the taste of their's instead. when i asked if the raspberry tea was just nestea [from the fountain], she said yes, but it didn't taste like it. tasted a little better.
my brother ordered a 14oz center cut ny strip with the salad bar and a baked potato with sour cream, butter, and chives. i ordered peanut thai chicken with new england clam chowder and backed potato as a side. i don't remember what my friend ordered, but it was something with several shrimp and ordered a twice baked potato and salad bar, also. server brought out brown sugar molasses and regular sour dough bread. i didn't care for either. i thought the brown sugar one would have been very sweet, but it tasted very plain.
when thefoodcame out, the assistant brought it out on her arms. she didn't use a tray, which i prefer because it looks a little classier than juggling plates. she brought a gravy boat for my brother which he assumed was just dark gravy, but our friend informed him it was a1 sauce instead, so his baked potato was drenched with a1 since him and i didn't realize what it was. i asked for no carrots on my peanut thai chicken (i like carrots, but wasn't in the mood and didn't sound like they'd do well with peanut thai chicken). i received carrots on top of the dish. i just picked them off to the side. when the server came back and asked how it looked, i did mention the carrots, but she didn't seem like she cared so much. she just said "oh, well huh." i said don't worry about it cuz i used to work in a restaurant and i do know sometimes the cooks/food dressers may not realize/apy attention that something was taken off/made differently, so of course, i didn't know who's fault it was, but i let it slide. our friend liked what she had, but she's been there multiple times and seems biased.
my brother order a total of 2 miller lites and my friend and i each had two refills on our drinks. my brother's total was just over $31. my friend's was about $30 because she got a twice baked potato which was extra. mine came out to just over $20. i noticed my friend wasn't charged for her drinks, but i was charged for one on mine (didn't know if they had free refills, but i guess so) and also noticed mine said "mountain dew" but didn't say anything since they were the same price. i did however, write on the receipt that showed my total "iced rasp tea" and crossed out the mt dew. when she boxed ourfoodshe took ourfoodaway from the table to who knows where and boxed it there. i do not like that at all. i either want to box it myself or have you do it in front if me.
overall experience wasn't bad, but could have been a little better.