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Filet in Fairhope
The Filet in Fairhope has the makings of an awesome romantic friendly bistro type restaurant. With any other manager but their current one..

We went to the Filet around 7:00pm on a Friday night.. Not too many patrons in the restaurant should have been the first clue.. Second clue should have been the host wearing a ball cap and the personality of a limp moldy sock.. Third clue (and this was the best.. my wife and are still laughing over this one) The waiter/host/limpsock comes over to our table and PLOPS down 2 brown lunch bags.. Lunch bags.. like the ones you send your children to school with.. but wait.. it gets better.. The menu's are printed on them.. and inside the bag was a greasy lump of what I think was a cheddar biscuit explosion gone awry. Waiter takes our drink orders. I can't help myself at this point.. I turn to my wife and ask her.. "Sooo.. see anything on your bag you want to eat?" We both about wet ourselves laughing... (guess you had to be there)

On to the food.. They have steaks and steak and steak and a couple of odd fish dishes and a cheddar/cream cheese stuffed shrimp plate and a chicken plate of some sort.. I wasn't too impressed with their menu... but I gave it a shot.. I ordered the Bleu cheese stuffed 10oz filet for $20 (btw.. all their steaks ar $20) which came with salad and 2 sides (Which were picked for me..) My wife had the cheddar/cream cheese stuffed shrimp with an angel hair pasta accompaniment, and salad for $17. (The pasta was supposed to be a black bean salsa accompaniment.. but they were out of it.. thankfully)

The salad course was actually very good.. They used fresh lettuce, with a mix of field greens and a milder version of feta cheese.. This actually impressed me.. medium to large portion and could/should have been my meal in itself.. I chose Blue Cheese dressing to keep with my Blue Cheese stuffed filet and my wife ordered the ranch... We both enjoyed the salads very much..

On to the entre~ My wifes 6 shrimp looked like they came from the frozen section in Sam's club.. If there was shrimp in there I never saw it.. She didn't care for the plain cheese they used.. and the pasta side was inedible. it was fried in oil to the point of saturation and brown.. with a feeble attempt at throwing in some dryed tomatoes to sop up the grease and oil dripping out onto the plate..

My Filet was not that bad.. I've had worse.. The presentation could definatly been improved on.. The filet was drowning in it's own seasoned aujus sauce.. which wasn't totaly bad.. just looked messy and on top of that.. it was soaking my mashed potatoes.. which weren't bad.. we also both had a small cup of green beans from the jolly green giant with some salt and pepper added to them and maybe a hint pork fat..

That about sums it up.. we didn't stick around for the unveiling of the death sentence deserts I'm sure would have followed.. Barring any MAJOR ownership changes.. this place should be avoided like the plague.. unless you want a good salad, stiff Jack Daniels, and soggy conversation with the waiter.. Oh btw.. The kitchen staff love to watch the tv in the bar while your trying to eat.. and trying to listen to 3 redneck yocals yippen and yappan about how the contestant should have followed his advice was a bit annoying.

All in all.. barring any major overthrow with new ownership.. I would not recommend this place to anyone.. 1.Get rid of the brown bag menu's and biscuit holder
2.Get rid of the brown contruction paper you use as table cloths.
3.Get a wait staff that has a pulse
4.Diversify your menu.. And remember.. if you offer a dish on your menu.. be prepared to serve it as if it was your prized offering. Not like you just ran over to Popeye's and got some shrimp poppers with cheese..
5. Clean up the kitchen crew
6. Leave the restaurant decor as is.. It's charming warm and romantic.. The terra cotta butter pots were an awsome touch I've never seen before..

You guys have the makings of gold mine with a few simple key elements changed..    [25 Mar 2006 02:44:37]
Food: Service: Ambiance: Overall:
Recommended Dishes: Salad
   --Gulfdiver -