Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Lot - Lakewood's New Local Destination


One of our friends told us about The Lot opening up in Lakewood, so we took the first awesome weather Friday to go check it out. We stalked the menu ahead of time (of course) and were already excited. Upon arrival, there were immediate parking issues. I’ll chalk it up to the first good patio weather of 2013, but I seriously circled for 15 minutes before getting a spot (that I had to mildly fight for). The place was PACKED! Our wait was supposed to be 45 minutes, but surprisingly 10 minutes in we were seated outside. Our first observation was that The Lot is kid friendly times a million. There is a giant playground for the kiddos and there were tons of young families all throughout the restaurant. We were seated at a very long picnic table that we had to share with a group of about 6 guys. No biggie – sharing is caring, right? So we sat and waited, and sat and waited, and sat and waited, and waited, and waited for someone to A: bring us a menu and B: offer to get us a glass of water. Cut to 45 minutes later, we flagged down some random waiter and asked him if he could find us a menu and maybe help figure out who our waiter is supposed to be. He was extremely nice and offered to wait on us himself, even though it wasn't his section. He did a great job so that was a plus. We started off with cocktails. Haley and I ordered the fresh pressed juice of the day with Tito’s vodka. It was carrot/ginger/apple or something but when it came out it tasted like PURE carrots – something adult Bugs Bunny might like. Oh well, we went for it and felt mighty healthy drinking it. Our friend, Diana, opted for a glass of sangria. She liked it but I thought it was way too sweet.



After we got our drinks we decided to hurry up and order since we were forewarned by our waiter that the kitchen was really backed up and things were taking a while to come out. We got the yucca fries with malt vinegar dust and garlic mayo dip as an appetizer. They were pretty good. A little too tart for me with the tangy dip, but I loved the texture of the crispy yucca.



For our meals, Haley ordered the grilled pimento cheese with bacon and LOVED it. I think that was probably best thing we ordered. She also got a side of kale chips which were incredible. She won the ordering contest by far –all her choices were really good.




Diana ordered the burger with ham, cheddar, onion, lettuce and red chile smear and fries and said it was a normal burger and fries – nothing much else to say.



I ordered the pulled chicken salad with green apple, almonds, hardboiled egg, carrot and romaine, and it was pretty normal. The pulled chicken was really good though, so I think the rotisserie chicken would be a really good menu option.  I also ordered a side of gluten-free mini buttermilk biscuits with butter because I will take any opportunity to have an old, carby favorite that won’t make me feel sick. Unfortunately, they were so dry they were practically inedible. No amount of butter could save those puppies. I was sad.




Then, for dessert, we ordered the butter pecan skillet cake which came with ice cream on top. Haley and Diana couldn’t get enough of it – it was a success.


  
As we were paying our checks and trying to leave, the guys sharing our table were also wrapping up. We overheard some comments about how they had a bad service experience as well. We are thinking it’s because the place is new and there are always some kinks to be worked out.  We would go back to The Lot if we happened to be in the area, but all agreed we wouldn't go out of our way for it again. There are just too many other Dallas foodie hot spots our on list for that, so onward!