Resturant Review -- Mafolie Hotel

I really struck out on this one. Well, more like a check swing.

I had been drinking most of the day and my restaurant perception was askew. To make matters worse, Brianna's friend from L.A. had just arrived and we wanted to take her somewhere nice.

Now with out-of-town guests -- the humble abode has been a hostel in recent months -- I like to take them out slow. You know, average restaurants and beaches early on in the stay and then work my way up until they are literally contemplating relocation by the time I drop them back off at the airport.

This time, I went on the advice of my friend Thomas and if you're reading this -- YOU DROPPED THE BALL, KID. The night before, I saw his jeep parked in front of Mafolie Hotel and I later learned he took his girl there for a nice dinner.

Check out the menu.

The hotel and restaurant are perched on the side of the mountain and does have a fantastic view. This pic is of me and my younger bro, Conor, who stayed at the hotel for two nights in May.

The buck stops there, though. Thomas told me the new chef there is really stepping up his game so I decided to take Bri and L.A. Christine there.

First thing was first. We did not make a reservation so to punish us, the hostess sat us in a four-top away from the balcony. No biggie.

We did some wine and ordered the conch fritters for an appetizer. The waitress was nice but she tried to remember our entire order in one swoop and that usually means trouble.

Bri is on a vegetarian kick these days (I coincidentally stopped showing her documentaries) so she ordered an eggplant dish that turned out to be the best of the three.

I believe it was on special and it came with twice-cooked mashed potatoes, which was the highlight of the entire meal and some steamed veggies.

L.A. Christine went with the pan-roasted mahi-mahi filet topped with pineapple salsa.

I'm not sure she was too impressed. I failed her and she had only been on-island for three hours. She said the fish came out dry and over done. Plus, because of the waitress' steady hand, all the food had slid over to one side of the plate and presentation was compromised.

When I'm in doubt after looking at the menu, I do what most guys do. I order the biggest steak they have and hope for the best.

This ribeye was over-cooked and was not a very good cut of beef. Plenty of grizzle and the waitress forgot to bring me a steak knife so my right forearm got a sweet workout with the butter knife.

The mashed potatoes (cooked only once) were OK and the veggies couldn't save the day.

We didn't even finish the bottle of wine between us. That never happens.

Afterward, no one was totally satisfied but it wasn't the worst restaurant ever. You can tell there's some potential there and it's one of those places where which night you go to eat there makes all the difference.

Like Vince Vaughn's character in Swingers: "It's 4:30 a.m. on a Tuesday ... this is the skank shift."

Next time I will make a reservation, try to drink less beforehand and come on a weekend night.

Final grade: C-