Friday, September 14, 2007

Restaurant Review: Seven Saints

We finally made it over to Seven Saints on Chester Street in Champaign. We were delighted to be able to sit outside and enjoy a meal without the kids...although once the sun went down it got cold.

I have heard great things about Seven Saints from many sources. We did opt for the beet chips with goat cheese dip...since everyone raved about them. There were ok...ours were a bit crushed up (I suppose we could have sent them back but we were starving). I think Crane Alley's are better. We decided to try as many things as possible between the two of us. We selected the black and blue salad, Seven Saints salad, tropical slider, Californian turkey slider, and wild mushroom soup. Everything was good. The salads were both delicious. The black and blue is a bit heavy (with blue cheese, steak, mushrooms, and onions) compared to the Seven Saints salad (with a sesame dressing, steak, cashews). I loved the tropical slider but wasn't excited about the Californian. The soup was great. We also finished with the creme brulee cheesecake...which was good but would have been better if they caramelized the top.

Overall, it was good. The portion sizes were perfect. A salad and slider would be perfect lunch. Adding the appetizer and dessert made a nice dinner without being overstuffed. The prices were very reasonable as well...we totalled $37 for everything including beer and tip.

It wasn't as excellent as I had expected but it is a place we would go to again...the menu has enough variety that the combos are endless. I don't really want to think about the calorie and fat content of the menu...despite the list of salads most of the them include cheese, bacon, and meat. The sliders however might have some redeeming nutritional value (e.g. small portions, lean beef, turkey, or Boca burgers, veggies). Our vegetarian friend did say that they have avoided it because they didn't feel the menu was veggie-friendly (you would have to ask for substitutions and eliminations). And on my new dairy-free diet, I was limited since most items included cheese (I did have a little blue cheese).

But we sure did feel like real adults...sitting outside in downtown drinking beer (ok, I don't drink but my husband did) and talking about adult matters (work, books). I think we got through most of dinner without talking about the kids!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My husband and I tried that place a few weeks ago and thought it was great, but you're right about menu. Not a place for dieters!