Last night was my first time dining at Sullivans. I've lived in Austin for about 3 1/2 years now and have been to just about all of the "up-scale" restaurants here. I'm a culinary graduate from Texas Culinary Academy and have worked in some really nice places here in Austin. I've heard lots of good things about Sullivans, but after my experience last night I'm not sure that I would return. I sat at the bar with a friend of mine and we ordered the "Cajun Crab Cake". Upon receiving the dish, I immediately started to pick apart the plate as I always tend to do since I'm a chef myself. I tasted the sauces first by themselves and they were horrible. The red sauce was a roasted red pepper coulis and was very, very bland. The yellow sauce was what I think was a yellow pepper and mango coulis, also very bland. The crab cake wasn't much to brag about either. It looked as though it was a crab cake that was slightly seared and then sprinkled with cajun seasoning. The flavor of the cake itself was ok, but nothing to write home about. I then ordered the 20oz. bone-in Kansas City Strip and it was truly a dissapointment. No flavor at all, and the meat was tough. Another thing that bothered me was how poorly presentation was done. Both plates had seasoning and what looked like dried parsley all over the rims of the plates. Not very pleasing to the eye. Service was just ok, but also nothing to compliment on. Overall, I was highly dissapointed in my first experience at Sullivans after all the hype I had heard. I'll more than likely give them one more shot, but it will take alot of impressing to get me to come back a third time.
Pros: Ambience
Cons: Food not worth the price
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