Last night we dined at Indulge, the restaurant at the Oaks Hotel in Paso Robles. It is located near the entrance to the freeway off 46 East at the north end of town. We were pleasantly greeted by the bartender/host and were seated promptly in a room that appeared more like a typical hotel continental breakfast room than a fine dining restaurant. There was a slight view into the kitchen which I always admire in a restaurant. Fresh flowers adorned the tables along with votive candle holders.
There were several flat screen tv’s on the walls but no artwork. There was an interesting glass fireplace built into one wall, but it was not lit and none of the candles on the tables were lit. The lighting in the room was extremely bright with many ceiling cans along with wall sconces and ceiling fixtures.
In evaluating the room, I felt that it fell short of creating an atmosphere suitable for dinner guests. However, with some minor adjustments, the ambiance of the room could have been elevated much higher. They could add some artwork to the walls, dim or turn off the can lights, leaving only the sconces and ceiling fixtures lit. The candles and fireplace could have been lit and if the vases on the tables were changed to clear glass, I believe it would have made a world of difference.
The service was friendly and attentive, however it was lacking in detail. We were given menu’s without an explanation or offer of the daily specials. Although they were listed on a chalk board in front of the entrance, we had forgotten about them by the time we looked at the menu. To their credit, we were promptly offered a drink and served delicious, warm Pumpernickel Rolls with what tasted like softened, honey butter. The restaurant showcases a different local winery each month and were currently offering Adelaida wines, which I love! My husband and I selected two different varieties and were served quite generous pours for a mere $7 and $8 a glass. The restaurant also has a full bar, which we noticed when seeing cocktails pass by our table.
We were attended to by several different workers throughout our dinner and thoughtfully checked upon several times. Someone other than our waitress offered us a large taste size portion of Clam Chowder. We were a bit confused as we had already placed our dinner order with no mention of soup either on the menu or complimentary, but we kindly accepted their gracious donation and enjoyed it immensely. It was done exactly as I like, creamy but not overly thick and filled with a balanced portion of vegetables and clams. I added a splash of Tabasco sauce, and it was delightful!
We each ordered a salad as a starter. They had two on the menu so we selected one of each, the Indulge House Salad and the Bacon Bleu Salad. They were both presented almost identical visually with distinctive ingredients garnishing each of them. Mine had dried cranberries, candied walnuts and goat cheese and my husband’s had bacon, blue cheese and poached pear. The dressings seemed minimal by view, but were actually very tasty and evenly distributed throughout the salads. They greens were a nice variety and tasted fresh off the farm.
You might think that things were going pretty well so far, aside from the lack of character in the dining room. Well, we were thinking the same thing…then came our entree’s. I ordered the Ribeye Steak medium rare. It was served over mashed potatoes alongside a serving of sautéed mushrooms. The steak was nicely charred on the outside, however the meat itself was too rare and was not quite the level of quality I would have expected. They kindly took it back to the kitchen and with a quick flash on the grill, offered it back to me cooked perfectly done. I was impressed that it did not get overcooked by that request and I give them huge points for that! The potatoes were lacking in flavor and seasoning and the mushrooms were fine, but nothing special.
My husband ordered the Double Cut Pork Chop which came beautifully plated with brown rice, roasted squash, topped with a chopped salsa and served over salsa verde. It had the potential of greatness, however it was overly seasoned and over cooked. While ordering, we had a conversation at the table about the fact that pork is not usually ordered by temperature as beef is (rare, medium rare, etc.), however it should never be overcooked as this creates a dry tasteless meat that is difficult to enjoy.
(In posting this article, I reviewed their menu online and found that either we overlooked some items or the menus we received omitted them. It seems that they have a multitude of sauces available as well as signature sides that we don’t recall seeing or hearing about that sound interesting.)
Hmmm, well this created leftovers that I can re-purpose in another dish to salvage what we didn’t want to waste. At this point, we were not interested in having dessert and declined the offer from the waitress. My husband did mention to me however, that it is in the best interest of the restaurant to present a dessert menu instead of just asking if you are interested. I have to agree that more times than not, we decide to order at least a share item after gazing at the tantalizing options, even if we felt that we would have declined having been asked.
On our way out, the manager asked if we were local and explained that they offer music at cocktail hour on Friday and Saturday nights. Based on the full bar and value of their wines, we may give it another try. Hopefully we will have a better result.