SweetBay {early first look)

I kind of stretched (shrunk?) my common practice of giving a restaurant time to iron out infant kinks and more or less get up and running.  With all the anticipation and buzz about SweetBay, we accepted an invite to attend last Friday (a week ago today!).  So any early faults can be ascribed to growing pains, with maybe one pain that is not so easily fixed with time.

I will follow my idol Tom Sietsema’s review model since this was a first visit.

SweetBay restaurant and Grill (Stars withheld)

22680 Washington Street, Leonardtown, MD  20650

(240) – 309 – 4148; (Reservations available on Open Table)

web site

Open: Hours:

Monday: Closed;

Tuesday – Thursday: Kitchen: 4 p.m. – 10 p.m.; Bar: 4 p.m. – 12 a.m.
Friday and Saturday: Kitchen: 4 p.m. – 11 p.m.; Bar: 4 p.m. – 1 a.m.
Sunday:                     Kitchen: 4 p.m. – 9 p.m.;   Bar: 4 p.m. – 10 p.m.

Prices: Dinner Appetizers: $6 to $14; entrees: $18 to $39

Sound Check: 82 Decibels (measured); extremely loud

Accessibility: Handicap Parking limited, and quite a distance from door. Aisles tight, but are relatively easy to negotiate (Excuse, me; pardon me); Restrooms not visited.

Feeder Report

The exterior is very attractive

The hostess station is just inside the door and you are greeted as you enter.

The space is basically separated into two main areas, a “Bar” area and a dining area.  The Bar area has banquets along one wall facing the bar, and a few tables in front.  The “dining” area is behind that, and contains many tables.

It’s interesting about the bar.  An early picture during construction shows the beautiful tile work on the wall.

It’s kind of a shame the back bar now kind of obstructs that view

Toward the back of the space is the “dining” area with just tables and tasteful figures on the walls.

Those that enjoy a “high energy” experience will be rewarded as (on the night we were there) there was quite a buzz!

Before getting into the culinary look see, a word about that 82 dB sound level (as measured by the Feeder Fone).  In field of acoustics (in which i had some experience) there is something called “cocktail party syndrome”:  When somebody speaks to you at your table for instance, in order to hear them and make some response, you have to elevate your voice above theirs to be heard.  Well, then any response has to exceed yours, resulting in an escalating spiral of sound levels.  Also, if you look at the dining area, what do you see?  Lots of solid flat walls which are excellent at reflecting noise.  We literally almost had to shout to be heard at our table.  “Management” is aware of the issue and will be addressing it.  It is a tough nut to crack with that many tables.  I wish them luck, it ain’t easy to solve without many $ for absorbing materials, etc. 

Okay so much for the physical stuff, how about the food?  I am very pleased to report that everything we had was excellent, even though it is still in the infancy.  For the feeder, that is the number one priority.  I can shout if I have to in order to get good food.  With that many covers in the place, turning out delicious food is an accomplishment.  I would hate to be in that kitchen!

As for service I am again very pleased to report that our “first contact” with the server was “Hi, I’m and I’ll be your server tonight, may I get you something to drink?”  perfect, no “taking care of”.  Thank you SweetBay.  I did give them the time honored “drink test” of ordering a “Dry Manhattan, up, with a twist”. 

As is common and probably expected, I got a Manhattan with sweet vermouth, and a cherry plus the twist.   Okay, it went back and I gave the specific recipe which she recorded on her pad (good for her!).  Second try was just fine, except there is some reflex in barkeeps that when they hear “Manhattan” they automatically reach for the maraschino cherry bottle.  I unceremoniously fished it out and it was a pretty good drink.  The bar was very busy, so I put it down to infancy again.

The menu is quite varied and you should be able to find something to suit your appetite and wallet.  Prices are not bad, and they don’t follow the La Rive’s mistake of listing sides separately (at additional cost) the (perhaps unreadable) menu(s)

And while you might balk at a 39-dollar steak, one of our companions ordered it, and it is a huge cut of meat, and was done perfectly.  I had decided on Scallops, but MFO had also, so I diverted to crab cakes, only to find the manager telling our server that they were “86’d” (restaurant speak for run out).  Decided on the Paella.  What arrived would better be called “Cioppino” as not a grain of Basmati was to be seen.  However, the seafood was excellent in a tasty broth.

All of the above can be corrected with time, I certainly have high hopes for the restaurant and gets a thumbs up from the feeder. They are off on a good foot!

And from what we saw, most people were, and some were not

DFD

and not a single Mason Jar to be seen.

Food quote of the day (new sporadic feature):  from a recently re-discovered little book from “Tango Bravo”

“Life is too short to stuff a mushroom” 

Shirley Conran - 1932