solstice kitchen

thebaconman. i'm sure that this post will be removed very quickly, as it's in reference to wayne r's post below, but what the heck!
wayne seems perplexed why a tomato sandwich would come with more tomato, but he doesn't tell you that all our sandwiches are served with an extra slice of red vine ripe tomato and lettuce on the side. if he didn't want to eat it, he certainly didn't have to.
wayne also doesn't understand the concept of sheet-cooking bacon. he did mention that hisbaconon his burger at wendy's was always hot, so he didn't understand why ours wasn't. well, just like many very good restaurants, we cook our applewoodbaconon large sheet pans in the oven at a low temperature so they remain flat and in tact. two nice pieces are a compliment to our fried green tomato based blt, that, it seems mr wayne r didn't care for.
he also fails to mention that upon being sat, he very loudly said "i'll try to order something they can't screw up". hmmmm?? sound like someone was just looking for a reason to complain to anyone else? yeah, i think so.

no one has to love solstice. no one has to dine with us. but we are a very good restaurant, and wayne's petty insults, all because he demanding his two tiny strips ofbaconbe made hot, after eating half of his lunch, well, its obvious that someone was either having a bad day, or is just out to stir things up.

and for all restaurants where wayne ventures from here on out...you better make sure thatbaconis hotttttt!!!


-----19 mar, 2012-----

dear michael below.... perhaps the reason we didn't honor your groupon was because a) it expired almost one year ago b) you were irate and threatened legal action against us after our gm explained to you that your groupon expired almost one year ago. maybe had you been nice, while understanding that some deals do in fact expire at some point in time, things would've turned out differently. but that didn't happen did it. regardless, send me your address and i'll throw a check in the mail, but only if you remove your ridiculous post about how awful we are for not honoring year-old promos.

tomatoes on a tomato sandwich?. i took a group of folks from work to lunch at solstice. most everyone enjoyed the hamburgers that are made from fresh ground steak and cooked to order. having ordered a burger from solstice on a previous occasion that was over-cooked, i tried something different from the menu, a “fried green tomato blt”.

expecting a bacon, lettuce, and tomato (a “blt”) sandwich made with fried green tomatoes instead of ripe red tomatoes, i was disappointed. what came on the plate was basically an order of fried green tomatoes served on a large kaiser roll. on the side was a piece of lettuce, two red tomato slices (of all things) and two small pieces of bacon. already disappointed with the entrée, i proceeded to rake off the stack of green tomatoes from the bun and try to make a sandwich. when i picked up the two slices ofbacon(really looked like one slice cut in half), they were what could only be described as “refrigerator” cold.

at this point i stopped trying to make an edible sandwich and waited for the waitress to come back to the table. when she stopped by, i complained about thebacon(both the temperature and quantity) and handed her the two strips from my plate. she of course apologized and offered to bring out morebaconwith which to make a sandwich. what came out next was a small plate (three half slices this time) of burnt bacon. at this point, i stopped trying to create anything out of my meal and just waited for everyone else at the table to finish.
when the waitress finally came back to bring a check, she noticed i had not eaten the sandwich and asked if anything was wrong. i looked at the small plate of burnt pork flesh and asked if the kitchen had sent that out as a joke. she assured me they had not.

not wanting to make a scene and discuss the situation in front of my guests, i paid the bill and left the restaurant. i called back later to express my displeasure with the meal.

tonight the owner calls me to “get to the bottom of the situation”. after i explained, he told me i was being unreasonable and no restaurant would actually cookbaconto order for a blt sandwich. he said it was normal practice to cook thebaconat the beginning of a shift and leave it out on a sandwich station until it was ordered. as far as the side of tomatoes on what could only be described as a tomato sandwich, he said that was the way all sandwiches were plated.

if you want a quiet place for lunch, i would recommend solstice. the place only had one other table with people at it (i wonder why?). if you want a good blt, i would recommend going somewhere else.

unique, but worth a try. i'm honestly not very experienced in "fine dining," as i'm a college student who prefers to save money for textbooks rather than steaks. but i dated a guy who wanted me to meet his parents, and they suggested solstice. i felt a little out of my element there--the restaurant is very nice, and the waiters were dressed up more than i was. (i wore skinny jeans, a pretty top, and heels, and still felt underdressed.) i knew right away that this was going to be a very expensive restaurant. boy, was i right. talk about sticker shock! still, my boyfriend's parents were paying, and they told me to order whatever i wanted. here's where i further admit my lack of culture: i'm not an extremely adventurous eater. my sister has a digestion disorder, so i've grown up in a house that "did without" foods she could not have: beef, all red meat, game, and fruit. i just don't have a taste for these foods. so i could literally find only one entree on the menu that sounded appealing, and i was nervous about it: the blueberry bbq chicken withbaconmacaroni and cheese on the side. but it was actually delicious! i was pleasantly surprised. not only was the food good, but the service and atmosphere were great, too. it was formal enough to remind me to mind my manners but cozy enough that my boyfriend's parents ended up feeling comfortable with me and they loved me by the end of the night. i would recommend solstice, but be warned of a few things:
1.) dress nicely--slacks for men, and either dress slacks, a skirt, or a dress for women.
2.) don't expect to find plain grilled chicken or plain fried shrimp. you may have to step a little out of your comfort zone for this restaurant, because it's definitely unique.
3.) be prepared to pay a lot. my entree was more than i spend in a week.