What is the toughest thing in Montana? No, not the sub zero weather during those lovely winter months. No, not wide open spaces and the possibility of hitting a moose on the roadway. It is how easy it is to get TERRIBLE FOOD!
So when I was back home for a few weeks we decided to go and try a new place, Carlton Depot Eatery Ale House, 311 S. Washington “A”, Laurel, Montana 59044…… Upon entering what was a very unimpressive space, I wanted to turn around and leave. It was as noisy, as noisy could be, and it was coming from two tables at the other side of the room. It could just as easily pass for a storage shed.
However, I was with family and friends and already having a critical eye for bad restaurants, I went ahead and entered. We were greeted very friendly like as if its kinda a Montana thing.
There were 6 of us and I was trying to be neutral and I really was looking for some good food….. after about 40 minutes the two groups of loud mouths and all of their ‘forced laughter’ had left. We ordered a great selection of items from the menu and it was over all not bad. However, the damn fries were not hot! (what is it with these restaurants serving warm french fries). This is not the first time this has happened to me while enduring my search for decent food in Montana…… the quest!
The Mucker pork sandwich $17.00 was good and it too came with warm fries, a Steak & Frites $24.00 was not bad however it lacked something, maybe character?…. not a great choice and of course ‘warm fries’.
One of my guests ordered the Baseball Sirloin $26.00 and it was a home run!!! The steak looked delicious just sitting on the plate and it was the perfect plate of the evening. The broccolini was fabulous and cooked perfectly, this was a great choice! All of the vegetables were prepared to perfection as far as I was concerned.
Steak Oscar $34.00 was almost a home run but fell flat. I have had steak Oscar all over the country. Carlton Depot decided to slice it and toss the crab concoction on top of the already sliced steak. This course came with fingerling potatoes and it was over all very tasty.
I ordered the Black and Bleu “MRL” Burger $17.00, that was a blackened smash burger (?) with bleu cheese and caramelized onions. I liked it, but it seemed really dry (I asked for medium well) it was lean for sure and I could not find many caramelized onions.
I made the worse mistake of the evening in ordering the Asian Cole Slaw and it was as BAD AS IT CAN GET! It was overly wet like it should have had a funeral a week ago. It had that refrigerator taste to it and not safe to eat in my opinion! To be real honest it looked like it had fallen out of the rear end of a sick animal…. awful!
The ‘Jake Break’ $24.00 was also a loser, it was done with good intent, but it was too thick in my opinion for a sandwich and very difficult to eat in that format…. This is a term that those in the trucking industry maybe familiar with. I hope that it works better on a big diesel than it did on this plate this evening. Again, the effort was definitely there, but it was a total $$$$ miss!
In what I think is an attempt to keep the Check $$$$ high they have what can only be described as a pitiful wine bar that does not work in my opinion. Attempting to make named alcohol drinks with wine I don’t think works… except to generate $$$$ for the house!
After seeing all of these “warm fries” pouring out of the kitchen I was charged $7.00 for a side of these horrible things on my check and did not notice till a few days later…. it is ok, I think that this wayward attempt to get into the restaurant business will be a flop unless someone has lots of MooLah to keep it open.
I would avoid this place between 5:30 P.M. and 7:00 P.M. for all the loud mouths forcing themselves to have a good time with all the forced laughter. My bottom line is that I would try it again, that is if it survives the first 18 months…… we will see!
*** Check your checks before paying!