Uncleromulus
10-04-2006, 09:43 AM
Before I begin--am I the only one who does NOT recognize most of the caricatures on the wall?? We've done the Derby about 10 times now and been seated in all parts of the restaurant. But except for certain obvious ones (like Hitchcock, Groucho Marx, etc) I recognize only abut 10% of what's up there. Worse-when I go up to have a closer look, I find that the "signature" has faded so much that I can't read who it is!!
But I digress. On with the review. As I said we've done the Brown Derby around 10 times now and frankly, I much prefer the "old " Derby. Back then you could get a drink at the Catwalk bar. They had a very good piano player entertaining most evenings. The place was not crowded at all--much slower paced meal and service. And once in awhile a "Street-mos-phere" character would wander in, sit down near (or even with) you and carry on a short conversation. But I think Fantasmic changed all that. The piano player is history, the Derby is almost always crowded, with a brisk --even frantic -pace--and there are lots of kids.
Our ADR's were set for 5:30--we had earlier tried to get the Fantasmic Package, but all they had for dinner was 3:30. That was much too early, so we decided to take a chance with "conventional" ADR's at 5:30 (with Fantasmic at 8:00). Turned out just fine--we walked in to Fantasmic pretty easily and were seated to the left of center. The Derby was quite full when we arrived, and we were seated in a sort of "basement" area near the outside wall--in fact, next stop would have been outside!!! The table location wasn't the best, and even worse, our server had all of his other tables UPstairs and out of sight!! Not his fault, of course, but it made him hard to find when we wanted to order second drinks, etc.
We waited a fashionable 5 minutes or so for our server to come to the table and when he did, he wanted to take all drink, appetizer, and entree orders all at once. Can't say I blame him given how busy he was, but that's not how we like to do things. Ordering that way, it usually ends up that appetizers arrive before drinks, and entrees arrive while we're still eating appetizers. Our server didn''t seem overjoyed at us wanting to order slowly, and given that he was often out of sight waiting on his "upper" tables, it made for a very leisurely meal!!! BUt we actually may have done him a favor, as he didn't have to rush around with us as he was doing with his other customers.
Drinks were first and I must say that the Derby does pretty good with their beer. Had Kirin and Amber Bock on draft, Tucher Weizen , Le Fin Du Monde , Sam Adams Winter Lager, (among several others) in bottles. The Weizen (of course) caught my eye immediately and that's what I had. Relatively strong as Heffeweizens go, and was served with the traditional lemon. Mrs U had a glass of Reisling and liked it.
Appetizers were up next--Mrs U had the seared sea scallop, while I decided to try my favorite--the Cobb Salad. On the menu a single serving is not offered, but I like it so much I was quite prepared to eat the "For Two" portion. To my suprise, they brought out a single serving--at least I THINK it was a single serving, as what I got would not be enough for two people. At any rate, I went right at it and after a moment or so, I realized something was different. The taste wasn't quite right. After a few more bites it dawned on me--they forgot the Classic french dressing!!! That of course would not have happened at the "old " Brown Derby, where the Cobb was mixed for you tableside and the dressing poured on.
For entrees I got the Roasted Pork Rib Chop with Smoked cheese fondue. It was essentially a pretty good pork chop, with cheese on top. The cheese added almost nothing to the pork--I actually prefer their old pork entree, which was a pork loin. Mrs U had the pan fired grouper-a nice piece of fish, served over asparagus, with a lemon-butter sauce. She pronounced it as good, but needing a bit more of a flavorful sauce.
Dessert followed--two slices of Grapefruit Cake. Good (and pretty large slices) but seemed less moist and less of a grapefruit taste than the previous times we've had it. In fact,had we not known it was grapefruit, it would have been pretty hard to determine exactly what the taste was.
Summing things up--Brown Derby is still probably the best restaurant at MGM, but it isn't what it used to be. Crowded, lots of kids, with a "rushed" feeling to the whole experience. Food is good but not memorable. IF you are staying around for Fantasmic it's a good place to eat. For us (since we see Fantasmic only every 3 years or so) we will probably skip it for several years.
But I digress. On with the review. As I said we've done the Brown Derby around 10 times now and frankly, I much prefer the "old " Derby. Back then you could get a drink at the Catwalk bar. They had a very good piano player entertaining most evenings. The place was not crowded at all--much slower paced meal and service. And once in awhile a "Street-mos-phere" character would wander in, sit down near (or even with) you and carry on a short conversation. But I think Fantasmic changed all that. The piano player is history, the Derby is almost always crowded, with a brisk --even frantic -pace--and there are lots of kids.
Our ADR's were set for 5:30--we had earlier tried to get the Fantasmic Package, but all they had for dinner was 3:30. That was much too early, so we decided to take a chance with "conventional" ADR's at 5:30 (with Fantasmic at 8:00). Turned out just fine--we walked in to Fantasmic pretty easily and were seated to the left of center. The Derby was quite full when we arrived, and we were seated in a sort of "basement" area near the outside wall--in fact, next stop would have been outside!!! The table location wasn't the best, and even worse, our server had all of his other tables UPstairs and out of sight!! Not his fault, of course, but it made him hard to find when we wanted to order second drinks, etc.
We waited a fashionable 5 minutes or so for our server to come to the table and when he did, he wanted to take all drink, appetizer, and entree orders all at once. Can't say I blame him given how busy he was, but that's not how we like to do things. Ordering that way, it usually ends up that appetizers arrive before drinks, and entrees arrive while we're still eating appetizers. Our server didn''t seem overjoyed at us wanting to order slowly, and given that he was often out of sight waiting on his "upper" tables, it made for a very leisurely meal!!! BUt we actually may have done him a favor, as he didn't have to rush around with us as he was doing with his other customers.
Drinks were first and I must say that the Derby does pretty good with their beer. Had Kirin and Amber Bock on draft, Tucher Weizen , Le Fin Du Monde , Sam Adams Winter Lager, (among several others) in bottles. The Weizen (of course) caught my eye immediately and that's what I had. Relatively strong as Heffeweizens go, and was served with the traditional lemon. Mrs U had a glass of Reisling and liked it.
Appetizers were up next--Mrs U had the seared sea scallop, while I decided to try my favorite--the Cobb Salad. On the menu a single serving is not offered, but I like it so much I was quite prepared to eat the "For Two" portion. To my suprise, they brought out a single serving--at least I THINK it was a single serving, as what I got would not be enough for two people. At any rate, I went right at it and after a moment or so, I realized something was different. The taste wasn't quite right. After a few more bites it dawned on me--they forgot the Classic french dressing!!! That of course would not have happened at the "old " Brown Derby, where the Cobb was mixed for you tableside and the dressing poured on.
For entrees I got the Roasted Pork Rib Chop with Smoked cheese fondue. It was essentially a pretty good pork chop, with cheese on top. The cheese added almost nothing to the pork--I actually prefer their old pork entree, which was a pork loin. Mrs U had the pan fired grouper-a nice piece of fish, served over asparagus, with a lemon-butter sauce. She pronounced it as good, but needing a bit more of a flavorful sauce.
Dessert followed--two slices of Grapefruit Cake. Good (and pretty large slices) but seemed less moist and less of a grapefruit taste than the previous times we've had it. In fact,had we not known it was grapefruit, it would have been pretty hard to determine exactly what the taste was.
Summing things up--Brown Derby is still probably the best restaurant at MGM, but it isn't what it used to be. Crowded, lots of kids, with a "rushed" feeling to the whole experience. Food is good but not memorable. IF you are staying around for Fantasmic it's a good place to eat. For us (since we see Fantasmic only every 3 years or so) we will probably skip it for several years.