Red Brick Cafe

The Red Brick Cafe has so much potential, but somehow manages to fall flat.  Located in the BB&T building on the I-65 service road, RBC seems like a popular spot for lunch.  I remember visiting years ago and was not really impressed.  Hoping that experience was an abberration, I decided to try it it out again.



French Dip $7.75

I ordered the French Dip served with au jus; a choice of chips or potato salad; and a pickle.  I thought the sandwhich was mediocre at best.  The meat to cheese to bread ratio was really off.  There wasn't any really flavor in the meat either.  When I dip the sandwich in the au jus, it was a little better but I don't like soggy bread so that kinda defeated the purpose for me.  The potato salad was a complete failure.  It was underseasoned and very mushy.  The best thing on this plate.. the pickle.

My brother had the Chicago Melt which is made with ham, turkey, bacon, American cheese, tomato and lettuce with a spicy mayonnaise.  It's served on your choice of bread; honey wheat berry, french, white, rye, sourdough, or croissant.  My brother's only complaint about this sandwich.. the tomato was still frozen. I didn't like the American cheese on the sandwich, however the combination of meats was really nice.  My brother was only able to eat half the sandwich.  He took the other half home and said it was better when everything was the same temperature.. in this case cold.

We also decided to share a scoop of chicken salad since I keep hearing it was delicious.  I thought it was just average.  Red Brick does add almonds to their chicken salad and it makes more unique.  I like how it gave the chicken salad more texture.  For that huge scoop of chicken salad, I got one measly package of crackers.  We sat outside and the waitress never came back out so we were unable to ask for more.

There is something missing to this little place.  The food is very basic and the service is just ok.  I can make most of RBC's offerings at home myself and it will probably taste better too.  I heard RBC does have a great selection of baked goods and casseroles though.  I may stop by sometime to try out their turtle cupcakes, but for an actual hearty lunch I'm going to choose to go elsewhere.