Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Checking out Pimento's


So I’ve been completely neglect in posting about my trip to the newly opened Pimento’s downtown. We went down on opening night and had a drink to scope the place out. It was already packed and they hadn’t even advertised, just put up a sign that afternoon saying they would be opening. Apparently, the musical duo that used to be very popular there on Thursdays when it was Vincent’s got word, and showed up to play.
We checked out their smaller plate menu downstairs and tried a cheese plate. It had a huge portion of about 5 different cheeses, including my personal favorite the mango ginger stilton. But it came with olives and no fruit, bread or cracker. Now I love cheese as much as the next person, but I guess I’m a carb addict because I needed something else. So we asked for some bread or something and got some pita toasts which helped a lot.
We headed down that weekend for dinner and met up with another local couple. The menu prices are reasonable by Exeter standards (in line with the Tavern, Townlyne and 11 Water Street), with a range of about $14 to $26. The menu is interesting but a bit too many combinations of flavors in each entree for me. It kind of reminds me of when the Foxfire Grill opened in Epping and they had like 5 different accompaniments to each food.
I tried the skirt steak with herb butter, as did Ken, and the others tried salmon and some sort of pork tenderloin. Mine was really tasty but I got the impression that the kitchen staff was still working to coordinate getting everything out at once, as mine was a bit cold. But I think the place has potential and certainly opening week is crazy for any new place (ie., The Holy Grail running out of food opening week) like this. I'm sure by now they are well into the swing of things.
One nice thing was that the owner Ken remembered us from the first night. Apparently he had accidentally charged us for two drinks we didn’t have. He came over, told us about this, and took the drink bill from the first night off our tab that night.
Anyone else been there yet? What did you think?

2 comments:

Maggie May said...

i have a great fondness for Exeter despite never having been there, due to John Irving's love and use of the place in his novels

:)

Spider said...

Five of us tried out Pimento's two weeks ago and were very pleased with the food and drinks. We ate downstairs, all of the food was hot, and enjoyed the ambiance of the view overlooking the river. We stayed a couple of hours and never felt rushed even though the restaurant was filling up. I recommend this eatery to anyone that enjoys an upscale menu.