I spent my birthday dinner at The Crow Bar and Kitchen in Corona del Mar with the family. It was a quiet, Sunday night for the restaurant, and oddly enough, Panini Grill next door seemed to have more of a crowd than our new, hipster locale. Incidentally, I found it a bit odd that they crammed a party of four into the table adjacent to ours when the rest of the place was wide open. I guess staring at people waiting for paninis, and watching expensive sports cars jockeying for the attention of passerby's on PCH is more popular than I care for.Our waitress was good, but not overtly knowledgeable about the menu. When my boyfriend asked for a beer recommendation (from the lengthy list), she recommended her own favorite, and then launched into a schpiel about how it might be too heavy for his tastes. Right, blondie-- I'm sure your palette can handle a bolder beer than Jarrett Mahoney's, direct off the boat from Ireland.
We opted to start with a meat board that was an evening special. It was quite good, and included some of their famous pickles, which was perfect since not everyone in our group cared for sour cucumbers and we didn't want to order them as an appetizer. The meat on the board, which I can't recall the name of because the waitress was so muffled when she explained it, reminded me of prosciutto; it was tender and nearly transparent, with a slightly salty tinge; a perfect amusé bouche.
For our meals, we all selected something wildly different. I opted for a cheese board and a rocket salad, while other plates included fried chicken and biscuits, fish and chips, steak frites, pork schnitzel, and a burger. The cheese board was good, but again, she rattled off the orientation of my selections so quickly that I had no clue what I was eating. And the salad...it was just okay. The balsamic dressing was wildly overpowering, as was the snow storm of Pecorino Romano on top (and I'm a cheese-a-holic). Since the duck fat fries were so overtly touted on Chowhound, we decided to give them a go. Truthfully, I didn't get it... they were good, not great, and I couldn't detect any difference that the duck fat made.
Dessert was probably the best portion of the show; I literally think we ordered everything on the menu (minus the cheese plate, since I'd had that for my entrée). The rootbeer float had a scoop of rootbeer sorbet in the bottom...talk about an eye-opening surprise; it was delicious, and unlike anything I've ever tasted before. My dad's Irish car bomb was a hit too, as was the homemade ding dong, and the sticky toffee pudding; according to my mom, it tasted just like the one she, my dad, and I shared at a tiny pub in some miniature seaside city in Ireland.
I would give The Crow Bar and Kitchen a 6 on a 1-10 scale. It wasn't disappointing, but it wasn't anything to wait on a Friday night for either. The service could have been better, and the food more inspiring. The menu-writing was fantastic, but the food fell short, and the portions were small. Not quite small enough to fall into tapas territory, but much too small to feed the big boys in our group. I did love the décor, though, and for that alone, might visit the restaurant again for lunch or brunch to see if the food improves at all.
The Crow Bar and Kitchen
2325 E. Coast Highway
Corona del Mar, CA 92625
949.675.0070
www.thecrowbarcdm.com/index2.html
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