Last night I was out and about the Exeter area with a friend of mine. We were done work for the day and wanted to shoot downtown for a drink or two. We went to the downstairs lounge at Pimentos at 69 Water St. I like the lounge here. It has a nice feel to it and the drinks are average in price. We got a high table top and decided we were going to share a lite bite while chatting and catching up with each other. Our waitress suggested the stuffed dumplings. She said that they use to have pumpkin ones that were delicious and now had new ones on the menu that were artichoke and baby spinach stuffed dumplings with a goat cheese sauce. I figured we would give it a whirl. I drank my glass of house Cabernet and my friend drank a glass of Blue Moon (bottle, not on draft). OK, let me ask you this, picture in your mind what you think DUMPLINGS should look like....you see them? OK, our waitress brings this plate over of 4 very small, very flat ravioli looking things that are covered in the goat cheese sauce. First thing out of my friends mouth was "those are NOT dumplings!" I was puzzled myself, but we each tried one. They weren't anything to write home about, that was for sure. The goat cheese sauce was very bland and didn't really have that goat cheese bite you often taste when it's a sauce. Four tiny, thin raviolis for $9.00....WHAT? Are you serious? The regular dinner menu at Pimentos has some nice sounding dishes on it, but I think they are overpriced. Exeter didn't need a wanna be fine dining restaurant, they need some place reasonably priced with good food to keep the people coming back. The upstairs dining room was empty and including us there were 5 others in the downstairs lounge. Our waitress came over to clear our plates and asked us what we thought of the dumplings and I told her I didn't think they were much like dumplings at all and that they had no real flavor to them. She still stuck with her story that the pumpkin ones were really good, but that maybe she shouldn't be recommending these new artichoke and baby spinach ones. A few minutes later when she brought the check, she said "I stuck my finger in your sauce on the plate when I took it and I agree, the sauce was really bland." That was interesting. We finished our drinks, paid and left. I will go back to Pimentos downstairs lounge again, but only to have drinks. I will pass on the lite bites next time. I think maybe they are overshooting here with the menu. Guess time will tell how business does for this new joint.
UPDATE OF PIMENTOS-3.14.09- I'm done with this place. I have been back 3 times since I wrote up the review and last night was the last attempt to see what others like about this restaurant. As soon as my friend and I sat down (downstairs at one of the high tables in the lounge area), the waitress came over to let us know that they are out of ALL chicken dishes and sandwiches, the haddock sandwich and the steak tips. I asked her how is that possible for a Friday night? She said they were busy Thursday night and didn't get any of those items back in for the weekend. I ordered Malbec and for dinner had the steak baguette (the waitress recommended this) that came with their pomme frites. The meat was fatty and the pomme frites were really oily. I didn't finish my meal because I was full....of disappointment once again! My friend was hungry and liked the hamburger she ordered. I asked about desserts, but was informed the kitchen was closing so if I wanted something I should decide quick (it was almost 10), I passed. When I was brought my 2ND glass of wine, it was full of cork pieces. I drink a lot of wine (don't take that the wrong way, ha ha ha) and I wasn't going to drink this glass. I asked nicely for a new glass of Malbec and watched our waitress bring it over to the bartender. The bartender looked at it and then looked at me with one of those looks like tells you she really doesn't care about the cork in your wine and was bothered that she had to repour. When the waitress returned with it, she asked if she could bring us our check because she wanted to go home for the night and that the bartender would pick up our table. We cashed her out and although we were there for about another 45mins, no one ever came back to our table to check on us or ask if we wanted anything else. I guess because the bartender was busy hanging out at the bar serving one of the owners, a few other workers off the clock and a couple of friends. Bye Pimentos, good luck.
4 comments:
Pimentos is a great restaurant and addition to Exeter. I have eaten there many times and they are not "a wanna be fine dining restaurant" because they are not trying to be fine dining. They have delicious food and yes some lite bites are smaller in portion but they are Lite Bites. As far as being overpriced, I don't think being able to get a NY Strip, Filet, Pork, Salmon and other dishes for under $25 is over priced. And there are plenty of Sandwiches and other lounge affair to choose from. I think you may need to try something other than just dumplings to get a real feel for the place.
I was disappointed both times I went to dinner at Pimentos. We didn't have very good service and we thought the food was a little overpriced and nothing special. I always like to try new restaurants to see how they are, but being here again made me miss the meals that Vincents had when they were in this location. Oh well. Guess it will be interesting to see if they stay in business or not. The Tavern at Rivers Edge is better.
I like the Tavern as well but I think Pimentos has better food and is priced the same...but I always eat at the bar so I can't comment on service at the tables.
I agree that the food at Pimentos is way better than The Tavern at Rivers Edge. We really like eating in the bar area downstairs because of the atmosphere. The bar area at the Tavern at Rivers Edge is so loud you can't hear yourself chew. I hope the renovations to the upstairs area at Pimentos includes some much needed ambience.
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