Lavelle's Bistro

Chef Damo says: 1 out of 5 Saute Pans

We both have eaten here several times.  Unfortunately not much to choose from in Fairbanks, Alaska.  First off it's a loud setting, the bar and restaurant are mingled together so you're not going to get much privacy if you're looking for a romantic evening.  I guess large prices and small portions are to be expected these days in fine dining; the problem here, is this isn't fine dining.  The first thing I noticed on the dinner menu was that every entree came with fresh sauteed vegetables.  So absolutely no creativity is going in to the vegetable and I have my doubts that they were fresh.  My guess would be a bag of frozen vegetable medley, very sad.  I started out with some hot wings in Lavelle's special sauce.  As I was waiting I watched a cook walking across the street with 3 large bottles of Franks Red Sauce.  My disappointment was exacerbated when the wings arrived.  If the menu did not say chicken I would have thought they were Cornish game hen wings.  No seasonings, just dropped straight into the fryer from a bag of frozen mini wings.  They were so over cooked I thought I had ordered dog raw hide treats with a side of, yes, straight Franks Red hot sauce.  I ordered the pork chop and was not amazed when it came to the table medium rare.  I don't mind eating a nice rare steak but I did not feel like chewing on a thick piece of trichinosis.  The Bitch had the shrimp. I am glad the menu says shrimp and not prawns because those crustaceans are just that, shrimps.  As a rule you will notice I try and find the good in any restaurant, however in this case I can only say the Risotto pancake that comes with the fillet is pretty good.  The prices are too high for what you get, the kitchen staff is inexperienced and the owners are not creative with what should be Fairbanks premier restaurant.  The location is prime and they have a large selection of wines.  They should get rid of the food and just turn into a wine bar.

The Bitch says 4 out of 5 Middle Fingers
  (It would be 5 out of 5 but the wine list saves this place from being a complete waste of space.)

Chef Damo is right.  I received a plate of possibly the smallest and most overcooked shrimp I've seen outside of Long John Silvers.  To add insult to injury, the sauce was missing. I also got a caprese salad.  This salad is $17.  As there was a decent amount of fresh greens, the salad was adorned with a slightly overripe beefsteak tomato and roughly $1 of buffalo mozzarella.  If you are charged $17 for a caprese salad, there should be more cheese on there than you can eat in one sitting.
Several times I've rolled the dice and ordered the Caesar salad.  You'd think it would be easy to get this right as there are only a few main components to make this a success: crisp romaine, fresh parmesan, hearty croutons and a sumptuous dressing.  A fail on all fronts.  Lettuce is typically limp, parmesan sub par and croutons small and rock hard.  Don't even get me started on the dressing, I'm pretty sure they use mayonnaise.  Ewww.  I can't say I've never had anything good here.  They do make a Rocky Bourbon shrimp that comes with a decent sauce, as chef Damo says, their Filet with a risotto pancake is pretty yummy and all my friends seem to like the sesame crusted ahi.  The main problem with this place is overpricing.  If the menu pricing was about 30% less maybe my expectations wouldn't be so high and I wouldn't be so let down.  I say, stick to an appetizer and a bottle of wine, lest you be further disappointed by the entrees.