J. Blacks - Washington Corridor - Bar Food

Menu Selections:  hummus, calamari, Texas trio, shrimp ceviche, crab & avocado





I will start to say that after much build up on the opening of this place, I was HIGHLY disappointed, in ALL aspects.  First of all, the atmosphere is comparable to a Chilli's...more of a casual restaurant vibe instead of the bar scene I was anticipating (having been to the Austin location before).  People are seated with their party and they stay seated; the design doesn't allow for much mingling.  Fair enough, I though, it is a diftferent location so they may have a different concept in mind.

So I was anxiously awaiting to try out the drinks and food, and kept on waiting...and kept on.  Finally, our waiter came to our table and took our drink order.  Half of the drinks (the mixed cocktails) came out first and the friends that ordered a BOTTLE of wine received theirs about 10 minutes after, after the food arrived, that is.  Tell me how that make sense.   The same, logical thing happened with the food.  The calamari and the crab and avocado mixture anteceded the Texas trio and the hummus (which obviously takes minimal "preperation").  WAIT, the hummus never came and we had to remove it off of the bill. Furthermore, I wish we could've tipped the bus boy directly rather than the waiter.  He was the one that retrieved the utensils and plates (10 minutes after staring at our food) that we asked our waiter for which he seemingly chose to not deliver.

Moving forward with our not so "feel good" experience, the food was complete crap.  The calamari consisted of a majority of bland, fried batter, and the pieces that actually contained calamari had minuscule portions of the squid.  The crab and avocado was decent, but was more like a creamy green sauce mixed with crab portions, not separate entities like you'd picture.  The "ceviche" was pretty much dry, boiled shrimp with some avocado chunks thrown in for a weak attempt to call it ceviche.  The Texas trio consisted of what I was sure was picante sauce, ball-park queso and pre-made grocery store guacamole.

Will I be back?  Only if I was obligated to go there for a friend's birthday or a work function.  This place did not make me "feel good".  At any time.  Oh, the parking sucks too...valet is almost required.