Cafe 24 hundred

We had a coupon... or a 'Koopun' as I call them.  That's what led us to Cafe 24 Hundred in Willow Valley (North side of Willow Street).   I'm of the opinion that really good business ventures never need to run Koopuns to increase business; Their quality does that for them.  Sadly, I forgot that perspective before letting Herself wave that blasted Koopun in my face. (It was a good coupon! I got it from Verizon. Apparently they do a points program if you use their phone service, It was a free entree or up to $10 off, since NONE of the entrees came in under $10. And I like coupons, I feel they may lead us to places we may not have tried otherwise.)

We stopped for dinner on a Friday evening, expecting a nice upscale casual dining experience.   Cafe 24 Hundred certainly looks the part, with a serious attempt made at elegance.  Edgy lighting, industrial art work, contrasting trim, and a walk through the hotel lobby to reach the restaurant entrance.  One might expect something special ahead, in the way of a meal.

Look..... we'd heard good things about the place from friends.  Herself enjoyed a nice lunch there with a good friend on a previous visit. Others have talked up the food and ambiance.

What the hell..... maybe I'm just a crabby bear.  I expected something special, and Cafe 24 Hundred came up short.  Sorry, not sorry.... that's what I think, and my money will vote my opinion in the future. Even their website tries to be edgy, and just comes across as hard to use.

We arrived at 5:30 ish, and seating was not a problem.  In fact..... the place was near empty.  It stayed that way while we were there, with only a few tables being seated.  Here's a surreptitious selfie showing how packed it was....

I'll apologize for any images I use in this piece.  The lighting in the restaurant was... special.  Fashionable perhaps, but it promoted shadows and was cold where food is concerned. A touch of warmth in the light would have made a vast difference.

I'll speak to my meal, and Herself can tell you about hers.  I had the Shrimp and Scallop Carbonara ($18.95).  It was pretty much as billed; A pasta bowl with linguini, and a decent amount of both shrimp and scallops.  The seafood tasted fairly fresh, and the scallops were lightly cooked, not kilt ded. Yes, it had Pancetta and peas, in the classic recipe. The sauce, egg and Parmesan, as well.

What was left out was flavor.  There just wasn't any love.  We have better Parmesan in our fridge on any given day, and a good cheese was sorely missed in the dish. Garlic would have been welcome as well, at least enough to taste.  As for appearance, well.... here is what I was served:

Not a terrible dish, but rather generic and bland. It needed... something.  Some loving attention and maybe a little chef pride.  Perhaps if the seafood had been sauteed a bit before adding, or some shaved Parmesan perhaps.  It definitely needed seasoning, as both salt and pepper were absent to my palate. Of course salt and pepper shakers were on the table, but good sea salt and fresh ground black pepper would have transformed the dish into something much better.

Nice rolls :-)    Sad butter :-(

The menu suggested it would be served with grilled bread.  This, in fact, was not true.  A basket of warm(ish) rolls was brought for us to share, and they were quite nice.  The herbed butter that accompanied the rolls took us back to bland-city.  Salt free, and mostly flavor free as well.

Salad?  Nope.  Not included.  A small starter salad could be had for an extra $4.  I always thought pasta and salad were joined at the hip in a meal, but not at Cafe 24 Hundred.

Drinks:  I was in a beer mood, but only the old stand-by Yuengling lager had any appeal. Their beer menu is an afterthought, not a feature. Herself, on the other hand, ordered some type of Foo-Foo Koolaid looking beverage with lot's of alcohol.

It was good enough, and alcoholic enough, that she had two!

My drink was Hawaiian Punch. A combo of amaretto, sloe gin, and a bunch of other stuff that tasted EXACTLY like the stuff you drank as a kid. OMG, it was good! I don't usually do sweet drinks; I like a gin and tonic. This was a very nice treat, and two made me a little giggly!  

Herself can describe her own meal... it certainly looked better than mine (excepting the juice/water/whatever running across the plate) (blooood, it was blood! Because my medium-rare steak, was a little closer to rare-rare)

Hanger steak with Polenta and Swiss chard

The hanger steak was tender and well seasoned, the polenta flavorful but lumpy. The Swiss chard was nice. Now, this was a decent dinner, and they do claim a lot of the food is locally sourced (always a bonus in my opinion). But... was this a 27$ dinner? No. 

Salad was an additional $4.00, and the rolls were warmed, but hard like maybe they hit a microwave before coming out. Our server forgot about us for the longest time, one of my biggest pet peeves. 

So... there were some definite draw backs. It was clean and nice. The lighting is.. different. The booths are so squishy that I looked like a six year old sitting at the big kids table, that is always very off-putting for me. All in all I have very mixed feelings, and the fact that it was a poor value means I probably would not go there for dinner without a 'koopun'.