The Kove

The abbreviated version of my review is food is pretty good, service leaves a lot to be desired. We stopped into the Kove on a Monday night for a quick bite to eat. There was  no one at the front to seat us when we arrived. Finally got seated and it took another 5 minutes before anyone came over to take our drink order. When we got the drinks, we placed our order - buffalo chicken fingers and two burgers. The burgers were good and cooked as requested. The chicken fingers came out as plain chicken tenders. When the waitress put them in front of my husband she asked him if he wanted any sauce. He replied that they were supposed to be buffalo chicken and instead of apologizing for the mistake or offering to get him what he ordered, she brought him a small side of hot sauce. Not great. The meal lasted 1 1/2 hours. Way too long for a burger and a beer.

Oof, where to begin? I feel like this restaurant doesn't know what it wants to be. We pull up and one person says "I think we're underdressed." I saw the menu online and said no, you're fine in jeans. There is a man standing outside who appears to be a valet and greets us. There is no one inside to seat us. The man comes back in after a minute or two and seats us (apparently not the valet). The architecture (high ceilings, large windows, trendy colors) does not match the tables or chairs (plastic, drop-leaf, low end). Each place setting comes with a red paper placemat.

The Guinness is cheap enough at $4 a glass, but the staff doesn't know a Guinness from a wheat beer. Really? I don't even drink beer and that's a no brainer. Wait staff was awkward and uncomfortable. To reiterate the reviews of others, you would've thought they had never waited tables before.

Had the roast pork, which is served on a gargantuan round sourdough roll. Bread was very good, but there was too much of it. Pork was gristly and smothered with canned gravy. This pleased my husband, who likes canned gravy and greatly displeased me as the menu stated "natural juices". Sandwich came with exactly 13 french fries. This amount would not even fill half a coffee cup. Fries were limp and appeared to be slightly seasoned with garlic salt. There were also about 5 pieces of mixed greens lettuce for color (I can only assume).

The other members of the party had the crab cakes, the cuban and the roast pork. They thought the food was decent but would probably order something else if they went again. Me? I'm not coming back.

I went to the Kove for dinner on a sunday night. The place is quite visually appealing and provides a decent atmosphere. The waitress was friendly albeit a bit nervous but I didn't mind. I had the plain pizza which was decent for a bar pie. My wife got the crab cakes which she enjoyed but I was pretty surprised that they came with no dipping sauce or remoulade. I wonder what the thought process is behind that. My father in law had an audubon burger and my mother in law had a fish entreé which they both seemed to enjoy.
             My major bone of contention is with the beer selection. They are definitely attempting to make craft beer available but it looks like the selections were picked by someone who is on the outside of the craft beer culture. The most appealing thing I could find was a Sam Smith's oatmeal stout which was 6.50 for a bottle. Way too expensive and will never compete with places such as the pour house where you can get the same thing for almost half the price. As far as the rest of the beer menu, how about some double ipa's, imperial stouts, barleywine's, barrel/oak aged beers? They list Goose Island on the draft menu. Goose Island makes like 50 different beers, so that being listed as Goose Island tells me nothing. If this place stepped their game up with the craft beer, I guarantee that customers would come in droves. There are plenty of incredible craft beers that are widely distributed and readily available. So this was a major turn off for me as well as the open bible on the table by the exit. That's just inappropriate. Obviously they are working out the kinks, but overall it wasn't bad. I hope the owners take heed to this advice: Differentiate yourself with a truly great selection of craft beer, and they will come. Craft beer is a huge trend and it is growing exponentially. It will make your establishment truly succeed.