I’d been meaning to try this restaurant for a while, but it is inside a hotel which always makes me wary – overpriced and mediocre quality are the norm.  The website claims that the chef is devoted to farm-to-table cooking and that they have an organic garden that provide herbs and produce and that they use local meats – I’m a sucker for all of that.  So I finally just went over there for lunch to try it out.

My first impression was that the space is GORGEOUS – modern, impeccably designed.  The hotel is very modern and upscale on the inside, too – which you cannot tell from the outside.  The restaurant is long and narrow, with huge windows that run down the entire length of one side and provide lots of light during the day.  When you enter, you walk past the kitchen with wood burning stove (hence the name) on the right and a large, glass-encased wine room on the left.  The dining room is decorated with pearlescent white leather, pale green, and purple alligator print – very modern and luxe.  There are glass fireplaces set at intervals throughout, just in case you forgot the name of the restaurant.  It’s very trendy and modern and I totally love it.

Now, the food – good quality with inconsistent pricing.

The lobster roll is what brought me here over the summer.  The quality of the lobster salad was good and the buttery brioche bread was tasty, but as usual the ratio of bread to lobster was too high.  Red Hook Lobster Pound really has spoiled me for life.  I wasn’t a big fan of the house chips – nice crunch but no flavor.  The pickles, however, were fantastic – and served in an adorable tiny jar with a tiny spear fork.

This turkey sandwich is very much Thanksgiving-esque with caramelized onion, cranberry mayo, and their signature bacon jam.  That isn’t deli turkey, either – it is big slabs of roasted turkey breast.  Huge, delicious, good value.

The fall agnolotti was very good, too, wit brown butter, crispy sage, lemon ricotta, and walnuts.  I didn’t see any figs though, which are listed in the description.  Here’s where the prices here get a little wonky – that giant turkey sandwich was $13.50, and this tiny appetizer sized pasta (which is billed as an entree) is $16.  I mean – what?

My husband said he liked this turkey chili with white beans, cheddar, creme friache, and hot sauce.  But I thought it was overpriced – $20 for a bowl of chili, just because it’s listed as a main instead of a soup or appetizer.

Here is an example of the uneven pricing that swings the other way, thank goodness.  This giant dessert of fresh made butterscotch pudding (served warm) with scotch soaked pound cake, salted caramel sauce, and fresh whipped cream is enough for 4 people, easy – and it’s priced the same as the other desserts!  It is ridiculously decadent and delicious and I love that they serve it in a pot with the little Le Creuset spatula.

We also got to try a free dessert that the chef was working on – angel food cake with more of that salted caramel and whipped cream.  When I saw it I thought – boring.  But it was actually really good.  The thing with simple dishes is that each component has to be top notch, and that was the case here.  Now I get why the chef wanted people to try it for free – you might not order that if you saw it on the menu, but once you knew how good it was that would change.

Here’s an insider tip – if you check in using the Yelp app, you will get a coupon to take home a little jar of bacon jam!  Do it – it’s fantastic.

My takeaway from Harth is that the main plates are overpriced, so stay away from those.  Stick with the creative sandwiches, huge salads, and wood fired flatbreads.  If you are with a group, definitely get that butterscotch pudding.  And take advantage of the fact that Mon-Fri any glass of wine is $8.

http://www.hiltonmclean.com/Harth