Cameron Mitchell is one of Columbus Ohio's Restaurant Icons. He has created a chain of diverse eating places that many rave about.
Usually my pocket book can not afford such a meal but sometimes I strike a break.

I did so on Mother's Day.
I have to say my expectations were exceptionally high. I am a extreme affectionado of seafood and fine dining.
You could dare say it's close to an addiction.
I wish I could say I was as impressed as I wanted to be.
I wish I could point out and say it was the food or the service which was worst.
I can't. The best words I can put to the experience with inconsistent.
Inconsistent in the sense of, we were taken care of, the food was good, but I expected great and found it war near great on many plates but not mine.

Let us start with the service. I have worked as wait staff for American, French, Japanese and German restaurants from the age of 14-20.
I got burned out and moved out of the system and into retail/office life.
A waiter is an actor. They should always maintain an attitude of professionalism tied in with an attitude of niceness. There's a balance you have to find. As a customer you should never be able to tell if they are pissed, bored or anything other than happy to serve you. Its part of the illusion and a lacking of it makes me grumpy. Our waiter was impatient and bored. Not to the standards that Mr. Mitchell implies his staff should be.
He ignored us for most of the meal and asked only once to my Mother if she was enjoying herself.

Well enough with him. His self fulfilling prophesy of a poor tip did indeed happen.

On to the food..
Cameron Mitchell Restaurants pride themselves on creativity. And 3 out of 5 of the dishes did indeed have that flair.
Of course mine did not. It seems when it comes to presentation the "ordinary" dishes get left behind.
I had the lobster and my sister had a steak. Our presentation was so blah it made me angry. Potato, asparagus, main entree.
And the asparagus. Barely cooked! Tasteless. Blah. Just like the whole rest of the plate. My sister's plate too.
How would I made this dish different? Stuffed lobster- take the tail and throw away the damn shell. Stuff the lobster and present it on a boiled hot clam shell. THIN broiled asaragus and more than 3 with an herby butter mix on top. Baby Red Skinned Potatoes burst with tabs of butter and spices. Now truly how hard was that to spice up to my standards?
And the Steak? How hard is to make it look beautiful? Just piss poor presentation.
So let us finally look to the beautiful dishes that did make at least a passing grade with me.
My Mom's dish looked amazing. Cedar plank Salmon plated with Asparagus (yes the same thick tasteless crap) Balsamic Eggplant,  roasted vegetables and  portabella relish and is topped by  goat cheese. I got to taste a small bite of it and it was very good.
My soon to be sister in law had her favorite; Ginger Crusted Atlantic Salmon and to be fair the presentation was quite fair.
My brother Bill had the Trio and seemed to enjoy that as well.

So on to the score
8.5 out of 15

Taste: 3
Is this the height of culinary brilliance in Columbus?
Going by my plate? No. My Mom's was outstanding.

Presentation: 3.5
Did it look beautiful? Was it art?
Going by my plate? No. Again my Mom's plate was nearly to my expectations.

Service: 2.0
Did the waiter meet my expectations during the time he cares for me at my table?
No. I expect that kind of nearly surly behavior out of the Dube's wait staff.

Now I will say my expectations for a place like this versus Chef O Nette are different. I take the Presentation score out of a place like that because I don't expect it to be art.


So there it be.. my first review. Hope you enjoyed. Hope I don't have to be so mean to my next target!
Speaking of which- I think it will be Chef O Nette. Let us walk into the Ozzie and Harriet side of the burbs in a little diner that has never changed since it opened. I will say I love this place dearly.

I will also throw in a review of the North Market today if I can!