MacArthur Park

Name: MacArthur Park
Address: 27 University Ave, Palo Alto, California 94301
Phone: 650-321-9990
Web site: www.macpark.com
Date & Time visited: Friday, January 6, 2006, 8:30 PM
Guests: Jennifer and me
What we had: Bloody Mary (me), Sidecar (Jen), "Mac Park" potato skins, Cobb Salad (Jen), Pier 39 salad (me).

Drinks were excellent; my Bloody Mary was rich and spicy, and Jen enjoyed her Sidecar. The potato skins were interesting: rather than the usual slice of skin with some flesh, these were "chunks" of seasoned fried potato with skin on, served with sour cream and house ranch dressing. A large portion which, combined with just one of the huge salads, could have been a meal for two.

Jen's Cobb salad was, as I said, huge. Containing the standard ingredients, it did feature a nice tarragon dressing, though not quite enough of it as Jen commented that the lower regions of the salad were somewhat dry.

The "Pier 39" salad combines baby spinach, red bell pepper, endive and seared sliced pepper-crusted tuna, with a ginger-garlic dressing. While again being rather too large to finish, it was delicious. The tuna being the star of the dish, I made sure to concentrate on it. It was seared on the outside, raw and cool on the inside; perfectly prepared. Contrary to Jen's salad, mine actually had a bit too much dressing, which made the baby spinach somewhat oily.

Service: Uneven but reasonably good. We were seated rapidly--the restaurant was less than half-full at the prime dinner hour on Friday night--but were given two copies of the wine list and only one menu. When Jen asked for another menu and handed the wine lists back to the host (since neither of us wanted wine), we got another wine list in return. A moment later we did manage to get another menu.

Water and bread were brought almost immediately. One very positive note: the bread was warm and fresh and the butter was soft. Too often we'll get ice-cold butter, which is impossible to spread onto room-temperature bread.

Our server pulled out a chair from the next (empty) table to sit while taking our order; normally this would bother me a little, but as she was visibly pregnant I had no problem with it at all. She did have a way of being just a little too goofy for the occasion, but she probably didn't notice. We certainly had no complaints with her attention to us; water refills were prompt, and when I requested a diet Coke halfway through the meal she brought it immediately.

Would we go back: Unsure. The food was decent but pricey: our bill, with tax but without tip, came to just over $60 for two drinks, one appetizer, and two salads. Plus a $2.95 diet Coke. I wasn't too excited with the ambiance of the place, either. Apparently designed by Hearst Castle architect Julia Morgan, who may have been having a bad day when she did this one, the restaurant resembled nothing more than an old farmhouse or remodeled barn. Which is fine if that's what they're going for, but the prices don't match the atmosphere. We might go back and share rather than ordering separate entrees.