*5/25/2012* The Corner Office

The Corner Office is a hip little joint inside The Curtis Hotel on 14th and Curtis. It was all too fitting since I was accompanied by one of my truly best buddies, Curtis, and his fiance Tara. We made reservations to avoid the crowd and also because I'm obsessed with the OpenTable app on my phone. Anyway, the reservations were completely unnecessary. Our 7:30 dinner date was not among said crowd, but rather a few scattered couples and a bachelorette party. However, when I went to the bathroom there was a rather lively crowd in their back room; possibly a party of sorts. Regardless, the ambiance is kind of groovy (yes, I say groovy). It has a new-agey feel with lots of clean lines and bright colors. Clocks adorn the walls all reading 5:00. I wonder if they cleared that with Jimmy Buffet? So, here's the "dish" on The Corner Office

The Service: Service was excellent. Our server was a bouncy little fellow that made suggestions on the menu and seemed knowledgeable about the food. It doesn't take much to please me as far as service goes. Say hi. Answer questions. Bring food. Donezo.

What I drank: I was drinking Samurai. A rice beer from the Great Divide Brewing Company. Beer was cold and delish. I like this light summer brew as it goes with almost anything you'd want to order. I'm also a big fan of local beers. 5 stars for beverage.

What I ate: We started with their edamame. Holy acid! Those suckers were well cooked but they sauce/marinade on them was wayyyy too acidic. We decided to share entrees so we got the fish tacos, which came out first. The veggies and sauce combo were good. Crunchy fresh veg and a citrusy/creamy sauce. The fish was over battered and way too small for the size of the taco, but overall not an epic fail. We also got the lobster mac n' cheese. If they would have called it "boiled noodles with a tiny bit of lobster and a runny cheese sauce that is mostly flavorless" I wouldn't have ordered it but at least I would have known their plans back there in the kitchen. Not something I'd order again. At $21 it totally did not live up to the title. Last, we had the special. A pan seared pork chop stuffed with breading and cheese with a mushroom sauce and salad on top of greens and apples. This entree was the hit of the table. Although I never found the elusive stuffing the pork was cooked perfectly and the sauce was perfect. We skipped dessert although word on the street is that they have huge bowls of cotton candy. Um, hello!

Would I go back? Probably not. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars. They had some concepts pointing the right direction but the overall quality didn't align well with the prices. Oh, which reminds me, thanks for dinner Curtis!