a dinner review of marsol

we've been eagerly anticipating the opening marsol and its new orleans & southern cuisine. i've seen the signs, and have waited and waited. we even went there twice before they were opening, just hoping that it would be open (and i had smelled the food & seen the smoke from their test runs of the kitchen). so, tonight, we decided to stop in for a meal because i had heard they were open, even though their grand opening isn't until december 7 (they get their liquor license on december 5).

as you enter, you'll notice that this is a huge restaurant. really, the main seating area probably will accommodate 150, they have a small seating area for about 20 near the bar, and a private room that i would estimate will sit 40-50 more. the decor is nice, and it'll be pretty cool when they have live music (the waiter said they will on weekends after their grand opening).

to start, we ordered the sampler appetizer plate. it comes with cajun fried shrimp, southern fried wings, and cajun rolls. the plate came with a sweet chili sauce and a cocktail sauce, and our waiter also brought out a "buffalo" sauce as well. i thought the shrimp tasted good, and they were pretty large prawns. the southern wings were full on chicken wings, not just the little bits you normally get with a wings order. they were average. the winner of the plate were the cajun rolls, which were like egg rolls. they were filled with cabbage and a ground, spicy sausage. they were very well complimented by the sweet chili sauce. i'd say 4 or more people should order this appetizer, because it comes with a lot and we actually didn't eat it all because we realized we were filling up before the main course.

for our main course, we thought we'd go out on a limb and see what sort of special dishes this place had to offer. i ordered the alligator, which came with cole slaw and steak fries. heather ordered the crawfish etouffe.

here's where the meal came off its wheels a bit. not bad, but just not great. i would say our mains were mediocre. to me, the alligator, which was lightly breaded and fried, had a consistency and taste similar to pork. but, some of the pieces were also sort of fishy tasting, which wasn't good. most didn't, but some did, and those ones left me reaching for something to clear the palate. heather didn't care much for the etouffe. it's a little unclear on what she expected from the dish, but it's not what she got (i would say it's what i thought from the description). i tasted and liked it, which is good because i'll be eating the leftovers. anyhow, heather didn't care much for it, but she was also filling up from our appetizer dish.

for dessert, we split their whiskey bread pudding. the waiter raved about "how if you weren't a drinker you might need a designated driver." hmm, not so much. don't get me wrong. i actually thought it was quite tasty. and, i liked the raisins and pecans in it. i just wouldn't say i could really taste the whiskey, let alone think that i'd need a d.d. after.

overall, i was surprised at how little spice the food had. i figured that new orleans cuisine would be plenty spicy, but this wasn't really the case. some had decent spice (the etouffe & the cajun rolls) but i just expected more i guess. in my opinion the food was mediocre. it's definitely worth another try, and the menu has a lot of options so i will have no problem finding something to eat. probably a little less exotic than alligator. i'm pretty sure i'll take a group in after they have their grand opening and the bar is open. oh yeah, they're going to offer an express lunch (11-2p) for around $10 which may be worth checking out, when they start doing it.

*cross posted @ fresno famous & yelp (why aren't you yelping?)