The Angus Barn

02/16/2008 Posted by crumpler4

I have dined at the Angus Barn at grand total of 4 times; once in 2003, and three times in 2008. The food, service, and atmosphere are all excellent. With several dining rooms (including some private rooms downstairs) and a large rustic bar upstairs, you can have your choice of dining experiences. If a mistake or problem is noted, the staff always makes it right. And, if you ask even on a busy Valentine's Day evening, the staff will gladly take you on a tour of the fine-dining private dining rooms and amazing wine cellar below. On your way, you get a view of a well run kitchen. The bar always offers free snacks; so if you want to order a beer and eat for free, you can. Or, you can order a monster sized steak, salad, soup, potato, bread, desert, etc. I go for the mid-priced; order a steak or combo (my favorite is prime rib and babyback ribs – great stuff) and share it between two; we order an extra sweet potato. A very fine dinner for two will set you back a grand total of $30; not a bad value. Drinks at the bar are reasonably priced A good Irish whiskey starts at about $5.50. The wine selection is huge; bottles start at $20 and up. (Up to $7,000 --- really! :-) I like the food, price, choice, and atmosphere. And I love the fact that I can walk in on Valentine's Day evening, without reservations, walk past the crush of people with and without reservations, and sit in front of a roaring fire and have fine meal. The Angus Barn ranks as one of the best. Now that I live two miles from the Barn, I will be certain to enjoy it more often. The key to enjoying the Angus Barn is to observe, ask questions, and order what you like. And stay for several hours. Americans tend to rush in, fret if the food is not there is 5 minutes, eat fast, and rush out. This is not the experience at the Angus Barn; relax, enjoy, and stay for a while.

02/15/2008 Posted by ntokb3

This was my second time eating at Angus Barn and, frankly, my first time paying. We arrived at the restaurant and valet parked, more on that later. We were about 15 minutes early for our reservation on a Friday night and there were three of us. It took about twenty minutes to seat us but we didn't really notice because it gave us a chance to look around the lobby and the gift shop. There are lounge areas with comfortable couches and chairs around the reception area and an impressive collection of antique firearms (this is the South) in one of the lounges. The hostesses were busy but still very friendly and when asked, checked our coats. Our waiter was very nice but not very knowledgeable about steaks. When asked if their steaks were wet or dry aged he hesitated and said they were wet aged but added that if they were dry aged they would be "beef jerky." While amusing, the comment did show a general lack of knowledge about meat. Our orders took about 30 minutes to arrive. I ordered a New York Strip, medium rare, with a baked sweet potato and French onion soup. The soup was very good, as was the sweet potato. The steak however, left much to be desired. It was the right temperature but the meat was flavorless and apparently unsalted. It also didn't attain a good level of browning on the grill and while it has grill marks I suspect the didn't pat if dry before grilling. All in all, I could have made a better steak at home with a steak from Harris Teeter and saved paying 40 bucks for a ten dollar cut of meat. The other people in my party had the baby back ribs and the fillet mignon. By all accounts they were very good. Dessert for me was the blackberry cobbler which was good except that they placed the vanilla ice cream right on top of the crust inside the ramekin. Basically what I got was pie under melted ice cream. When we left, the waiter went outside to see us off and the valet had brought our car around by the time we got to the door.

Pros: Impressive Service, waiting area, valet parking, appetizers, non-steak entrees

Cons: Steak (for the money they should dry age)