You Win Some and Some are Just a Draw!

For our overnight stay in Kearney Nebraska, I did my usual on-line research in an effort to find a good restaurant for our evening repast… When I found an upscale restaurant that was ranked #2 out of 90 in town and the ratio of Excellent/Very Good customer reviews vs. poor/terrible was 62:3, I promptly added this restaurant to our travel itinerary…

This is the Alley Rose Restaurant in downtown Kearney Nebraska.  We both love the idea of successful local restaurants in the downtown areas of small towns across the country… So far, so good!   

My photos didn’t come out too well but as you can see, Alley Rose has a large bar and it is quite a big restaurant.  It was a little dark inside and it wasn’t quite as classy looking as I’d imagined.  From the photos I’d seen on line, I expected a more upscale interior.  Our waitress was nice enough but she didn’t know much about food…much less about what the ingredients were in the items on the menu.

Here’s another view of the interior of The Alley Rose.  The website refers to “elegant dining”…but this isn’t our view of elegant.  It’s OK…but it’s definitely not an elegant atmosphere.  So…perhaps the food would step it up a notch!

Dinner came with a modest salad bar…definitely not a feature in an ‘elegant’ dining venue.  Again, there was nothing wrong with the salad bar or its contents, but words such as average, OK, standard, etc. come to mind.

I know that this isn’t the most appetizing salad photo you’ve ever seen.  Perhaps I put a little too much salad dressing on my salad bar creation?!  I like to mix blue cheese and French dressing.  It was a decent salad even if it was a somewhat unhealthy creation…

Laurie ordered a Ribeye Steak for dinner.  In addition to the salad bar and soup, her steak was accompanied by a baked potato and some grilled vegetables. ($25.99) Her steak was medium rare as requested but it was a bit tough and it didn’t have a lot of flavor.  We rated it as average…

With our entrees being accompanied with a trip to the salad/soup bar, a potato and vegetables, we skipped any appetizers.  The Artichoke Bruschetta looked interesting though…flatbread topped with an artichoke and Roma tomato compote with prosciutto, mozzarella and parmesan cheese. ($9.99)

For my entrée, I went with the New York Strip Steak Au Poivre. ($25.99) My sides were identical to Laurie’s… The vegetables were cooked correctly and my strip steak was medium rare as ordered.  The peppercorn sauce gave me plenty of flavor, but the steak was a bit chewy.  It was OK…

The Alley Rose’s menu included several beef items, seafood, pastas, sandwiches (with burgers, wraps, etc.), chicken, pork shanks and something we don’t normally come across…potato casseroles. There is something for every taste offered, that’s for sure.  The drink prices were reasonable…$4.25 for a double vodka and tonic. 

With tip and taxes, dinner cost $75.00.  In our opinion, it was just average considering the money spent.  Many people really like Alley Rose, so perhaps you should read the many reviews on Trip Advisor in order to balance out our feedback.  Go to http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g45649-d1958808-Reviews-The_Alley_Rose-Kearney_Nebraska.html. 

The Alley Rose is located at 2013 Central Avenue in Kearney Nebraska.  Phone: 308-234-1261.  Website (with lots of food photos): http://www.alleyrose.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave