Locally-owned Sunset Grill, opened in 2004, has the feel of an Americanized Mexican restaurant — with its lime green canvases of beachy palm tree settings on one wall, bright blue drawings of leaves on another, and the vaguely Mexicanized menu. To its credit — and sometimes to its detriment — the restaurant strives to be more than that.
The Sunset Grill sits in a large space, of which about a third contains the comfortable bar area, with several televisions. Live music and entertainment is pervasive at the Sunset Grill. One night it is Joel McNulty, local folk rocker/power popper. Another night it is Tony Antonnuci (perhaps best known for performing enthusiastically at this writer’s rehearsal dinner some nine years ago), crooning the songs of Francis Albert Sinatra. Waitstaff is predominantly younger — seemingly of high school and college age. Our waitress one evening appeared to be among the more senior members of the waitstaff, likely in the ballpark of her mid-20s.
A certain risk exists for restaurants denoting particular dishes as signature items on the menu. A diner might assume that any selection not so denoted is somehow sub-standard or unworthy of consideration. We threw caution to the wind one night and ordered the Guacamole (lacking a palm tree next to it, which would have identified it as a signature dish) ($5/$6.75). Given the restaurant’s Mexicanized theme, and the fact that the menu indicated the guacamole was made fresh daily, it seemed to warrant a palm tree. Maybe the stale chips served alongside the guacamole knocked it out of contention. Or maybe it was the over-abundance of tomatoes and onions that frankly overwhelmed the nice, ripe avocados. Fresh jalapenos were a nice touch. The Tijuana Wraps ($8.75) were a decent, Southwestern take on Chinese egg rolls, somewhat spicy and served halved and stuffed with black beans, corn, cheese, red pepper, spinach and chicken — with a fair avocado ranch for dipping. Nothing especially inventive, but a reasonably good appetizer, nonetheless.
We opted to explore several entrees beyond the Sunset Grill’s Mexican/Southwestern fringe. And one of the best entrees we sampled was the Fresh Salmon ($16.50), appropriately deemed a restaurant signature item, and a keen example of the Sunset Grill stretching beyond its Tex-Mex core and succeeding. To her credit, our waitress asked a friend how she wanted the eight ounces of salmon prepared. It was requested to be on the rare side of medium, and arrived precisely so. The fish was extremely moist and flavorful, with a decent brown sugar mustard glaze, tasting more prominently of the sugar than the mustard component. The salmon was served with a rather basic wild rice, and al dente asparagus. Though the dollop of pico de gallo was consistent with the restaurant’s Southwestern theme, it seemed out of place on this particular plate. Our friend had (oddly) requested that the mediocre Caesar Salad ($4.50) she ordered be brought with the meal. Our waitress evidently also thought this was peculiar, and brought the salad out first, proclaiming, “It was ready so I brought it, but if you want, I can put it in the fridge.”
I wanted to see how the Sunset Grill handled steak preparation, so one night I ordered the Rib Eye ($17.50), a generous 14-ounce cut. I ordered the steak medium rare, and as with the salmon, the kitchen nailed it — serving the fairly thick slab of beef with a perfectly warm, red center. Sometimes a ribeye, though almost universally flavorful, can be laden with big globs of fat; but this steak was nicely marbled with thin ribbons of fat. To be clear, this was by no means a prime cut of beef — nor was that the expectation. But it was a decent steak. The mashed potatoes served alongside were quite good, with the skin from the new potatoes left on, and a prominent flavor of garlic. The vegetable medley included carrots, zucchini, green and red peppers and a little red onion. It was colorful, and cooked fine, though was perhaps a bit drab.
We were less fond of the Parmesan Cream Pasta ($8.25, $9.75 with chicken), a basic rendition of fettucini alfredo. The noodles in the dish were overcooked, and the rather bland sauce was lacking garlic (and other) flavor. Here, the Sunset Grill faltered outside its Mexican/Southwestern comfort zone. By the same token, prevailing culinary wisdom dictates that one avoid any sort of nacho platter at Cascone’s, and any attempt at chopped liver (or kasha varnishkes, for that matter) at Bo Ling’s.
We tried dessert one evening — an Apple Crisp ($6.25), which our waitress indicated was homemade (as was another dessert, the Key Lime Pie). It was an odd dessert, with a big scoop of melted vanilla ice cream in the middle of the oval plate, and only a smidgen of “crisp” surrounding the vanilla mound, strewn with just a few cooked and spiced apple slices. The non-ice cream portion of the dessert was frankly a little skimpy and disappointing.
It is worth noting that the Sunset Grill serves a pretty solid brunch on Saturdays and Sundays — offering breakfast items with a Southwestern flair.
There is something comfortable about this place, and it undoubtedly has its loyalists. It seems like only a few tweaks here and there could take this place somewhere close to the “next level”. But somehow, the Sunset Grill seems pretty comfortable right where it is.
Out of 4 Stars
Food: 2 ½
Atmosphere: 2 ½
Service: 3
