My husband has been eagerly awaiting the opening of Page Road Grill for quite some time. This place has a great location right off 40, next to a whole bunch of offices, so no doubt he’s not the only local tech worker wishing for a new lunch spot. Sure enough, when we stopped by last Friday for lunch, the place was packed. We were initially told a 30 minute wait for a table for two, but it ended up being only about 5 minutes before we were seated. We got a nice little corner seat in the bar area with a decent view of the place. It’s got a look like re-purposed industrial, but it’s actually all new construction.
Cauliflower Cheddar Bisque
I was immediately impressed with all the local beers on tap. They also have a beer flight, though a bit pricier than the one at Spirits. Unfortunately I had a lot of things to do after lunch, so I didn’t have an opportunity to try the beers that day.
I ordered the cauliflower cheddar bisque for an appetizer, the “simply fish” dish for an entree, and my husband ordered the grilled hanger steak for his entree. The waitress asked when I ordered if I wanted the soup out first, and I said yes. Sure enough, the soup was brought out just a couple minutes later, piping hot and with fresh cheese grated on top. It was very savory, creamy and had just the right amount of bacon.
Simply Fish
Our entrees came out a bit later. The plates were big, but the portions looked rather small. Of course, being after New Years, a lot of people will be happy to find small portions at a restaurant, but I know a lot of other people might find it skimpy. I was perfectly happy with the serving size, because with the soup it filled me up without making me overly full. The fish was quite delicious, and had a fantastic cream sauce. It came with some mashed potatoes which were also quite good, and what was described on the menu as a “kale salad”. I was curious about what a kale salad would look like, and it ended up looking like 3 pieces of kale garnish around the fish and potatoes. Pretty pathetic excuse for a “salad”. I checked their online menu again tonight and it looks like the “Simply Fish” is now being served with “corn and white bean fritter”, no mention of a kale salad, so they might have fixed this issue since I was in on Friday.
Grilled Hanger Steak
My husband’s hanger steak came out pretty fancy looking, nice little steak bits served with a delicious sauce over a bed of sauteed spinach. The peppercorn flavor in the sauce was too strong for my taste, but my husband really loved the dish. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him eat so much spinach either! They did a really good job on it.
It was a bit more expensive than I usually pick for lunch, but grilled fish for $12 and a steak for $13 seemed reasonably priced. We were both really happy with our meals. I checked out the dessert menu, but I’m not a huge pie fan so I skipped dessert this time.
Judging by the crowds, I think Page Road Grill is going to do really well, and be a good lunch spot for the RTP crowd. It’s got a great central location, good atmosphere, and some great entrees.
