Review #56 - 2 Doors Down

2 Doors Down
Variety: Casual Dining
Address: 1533 Barrington Street
Date Visited: Saturday, February 8, 2014
Orders: Old School Cheeseburger, Smoked N.S. Pork Chop, Mac Bites
Taste: TBA
Portion Size: TBA
Presentation: TBA
Value: TBA
Service: TBA
Bonus: TBA
Minus: TBA
Final Grade: TBA

(Scoring: 100% to 140% = Exceptional, 85% to 99% = Excellent, 67% to 84% = Good, 60% to 66% = Satisfactory, 50% to 59% = Marginal, 0% to 49% = Poor, -40% to -1% = Abysmal)

Notes: Well, this is a first! We're actually so mixed on this dining experience that we've decided not to give it a score. Here's what happened...

J had been excited to visit 2 Doors Down (from the folks who brought you Chives Canadian Bistro), who boast "fun, rewarding, delicious, unpretentious recipes made from scratch with great attention to detail," so we decided to give it a try. The decor was pretty cool - modern and carefully thought out. Even the bathrooms were pretty stylish (and not in a douchey kind of a way). We arrived before the rest of our party and sat down at our table which was, in two words, "sticky" and "glittery." It was as though we'd arrived on the heels of a birthday party and nobody took the time to wipe the table properly afterwards. J's napkin was actually kinda stuck to the table (but, gotta say, they were REALLY nice napkins - really big and very high quality!). The rest of our group arrived shortly thereafter and perused the drink menu that was filled with many interesting selections. But we're not here to talk about drinks, this is Halifax FOOD Reviews, after all!

J selected the Old School Cheeseburger with Mac Bites to start. T mentioned her onion allergy and requested the Kung Fu Chicken, but the waiter returned shortly thereafter to report that the dish had an onion component that couldn't be substituted. He made another recommendation, the Smoked N.S. Pork Chop (a house favourite), so she gave it a go. The Mac Bites (deep fried bites of macaroni and cheese with house-made ketchup) arrived fairly quickly and were pretty good. The cheese was pretty subtle and not really the star of the show, but it was a nice little appetizer. Once the mains arrived, J had some difficulty with the burger. Due to a recent medical episode, he had to "knife and fork it," but because the bun was soft and borderline flakey, it pretty much fell apart. In addition, the meat (a mix of ground chuck, brisket and short rib) also fell apart easily and had a really bizarre chewy quality to it - to the point where J had to consider whether he had a mouth full of gristle (it wasn't, but it isn't a great sign when you have to think about it!). To be clear, the whole production was tasty but it didn't hold together well and it raised a few too many questions. Furthermore, J's brother had the same meal and ate it by hand - he, too, had problems keeping it together and wasn't sure about the meat, either. In his words: "It just wasn't that enjoyable of a burger." Good thing they had those substantial napkins!

T's pork chop arrived and it looked off right away - just about everyone at the table asked if it was actually cooked. As it turned out, this was because nearly half of the chop was inedible fat - see for yourself in the picture below, ALL of that is the fat that surrounded the edible meat! Given that another guest at the table had ordered the same meal that had only a small strip of fat on an otherwise gorgeous chop, we deduced that T had clearly been served a very poor cut. This was rather unfortunate, as what she could eat was quite delicious, she just wished there had been more of it. The waiter's eyes widened when he stopped by the table and saw just how much fat was left on the plate, and actually poked at it with a fork to confirm that it was all fat. He returned shortly thereafter and offered a salad to help fill T up (which she politely declined - everyone else at the table had long since finished their meals), as well as a complimentary dessert. When she mentioned that we were there for a birthday and already had plans for dessert, he offered to give her a carrot cake to go, which she accepted. However, when the bill arrived, the full charge for the fatty pork chop remained. Offering a salad and a dessert were classy gestures, but we feel that, given the circumstances, most restaurants would have either discounted or waived the charge for such a poor meal. Needless to say, we are a little bewildered by that. She also missed out on the tasty-looking block of deep fried mac and cheese because it apparently had traces of onion in it, but she wasn't really offered much of a substitution - her meal basically consisted of a big chunk of fat and a few vegetables. Not good.

Again, we were really looking forward to trying 2 Doors Down, and it's really unfortunate that we had such a mediocre experience. It's still pretty new and it's trying to find its feet, but we see a lot of promise, and truly believe that they are building toward something special. As well, we feel that the server tried his best to make things right. He took the onion allergy really seriously and we feel that he made a genuine attempt to have the cooking staff serve something that wouldn't make T sick. When he realized how poorly the meal was executed, he tried to make up for it. That's worth something in our books. Lastly, three of the six people at our table seemed really happy with their meals. These are the reasons why we have elected not to give this restaurant a proper review at this time.

So, while we're not in a hurry to head back to 2 Doors Down, we will probably circle back to it eventually to give it another shot. You may question why we have not afforded the same courtesy to some of the lower Halifax Food Review scorers, such as Jack Astor's, Athens and Hamachi Mura. While it's conceivable that we could revisit one of those places someday, we just don't feel that they made enough of an effort to be worth another review. For the reasons indicated above, 2 Doors Down just feels a little different.

Final Verdict: To be announced…

UPDATE: Shortly after this review was posted, a member of our party contacted the management at 2 Doors Down to discuss the experience, particularly the charge for the aforementioned pork chop meal. General Manager and Co-Owner George Davis quickly looked into the issue, offered a sincere apology, and mailed a note (and gift certificates) to T's attention.

This gesture was appreciated, but to be crystal clear: the intention of this review (and this blog in general) was certainly not to score a free meal. We have never - and will never - give a review, positive or negative, in anticipation of a freebie. (Yes, we once accepted a junket invitation but we were open about it and were sure to post an honest review - if it had been crap, we totally would have said so).

We started hfxfoodreviews in 2010 as a means to share our thoughts on Halifax-area restaurants with those who are interested in hearing impartial opinions from a couple of average locals with modest palates. For what it's worth, this is why almost all of our reviews are done in pairs - so that one person's standpoint doesn't dominate the review. It's also important to us that the restaurants do not know that we're reviewing them. It's unfortunate for 2 Doors Down that they served such a bad cut to people who have been posting reviews for nearly four years, but really, it shouldn't matter who's in the seat - everyone deserves nice food and a quality dining experience.

Anyway, we would like to acknowledge 2 Doors Down for making an attempt to rectify this situation. It reinforces our decision to refrain from scoring this particular meal. Honestly, we are really surprised that they have not yet responded to this review, either by commenting below or via Twitter, but we do appreciate their actions based on the call from the other member of our party. We don't know when we'll head back, but we will give them another shot at some point. Stay tuned...