Mill Valley Kitchen

Thanks to the generosity of my employer, I was lucky to have today off of work to extend my 4th of July weekend to 4 days.  We decided that we would make use of the day off to try a new restaurant for lunch.

We decided on Mill Valley Kitchen.  This is a relatively new restaurant in the area that promotes itself as a choice for fresh, local, and sustainably sourced ingredients.  Based on the menu that does appear to be the case.

We arrived for a late lunch and found the place to be relatively busy with lots of "ladies lunching."  The hubby and I both thought the interior of the restaurant was very attractive.  You can tell some thought...and expense went into the furniture and table linens. 

There was a variety of options on the menu - main entrees, starters, sandwiches and flatbreads.  I ordered the mixed greens salad which consisted of organic greens, pumpkin seeds, craisins, goat cheese and a red wine vinaigrette.  For my main course I had the Grass Fed Beef Burger.  The hubby got the Roasted Duroc Pork Bahn Mi.  He didn't get a starter because his sandwich came with a small green salad.

We waited for a bit and then our food came out - unfortunately the salad came at the same time as the sandwich.  I had said I wanted to "start with" the salad.  Guess that didn't translate to "bring the salad BEFORE the sandwich" like I thought it would.  To top it off, my sandwich also came with a small green salad.  The menu stated that for the hubby's sandwich, but not mine.  Now I looked somewhat foolish as I sat there with the large mixed green salad on one plate and a burger and more salad on another plate.  I do believe I would have had my recommended 5 servings of vegetables had I actually eaten all of that lettuce.  I managed to eat from both plates and did enjoy both the salad and the burger.  The hubby thought his sandwich was OK, not great.  I tried to get him to eat some of my salad but alas, it was all mine.

The thing about the restaurant that threw me off a bit is that it is decorated simply but elegant and then they were rocking Led Zeppelin overhead.  The clientele skewed to the older crowd and I have trouble believing they were enjoying the music.  Just very odd.

So final review was the atmosphere was pretty good, odd musical choices, food was decent, execution of service was lacking.  Might go back some time, but given the number of restaurant choices available to us, it will not be for awhile.

Happy Eating!