Carlyle on the Green handles their tastings a little differently. We were invited to have dinner in The Oak Room, the restaurant of their country club, where several menu items overlap with choices you have on the wedding menu. We tried three appetizers, three entrees, and dessert, asked our wonderful server, Andrew, many questions, and now we have a ton of notes for menu planning.

The crab cakes were problematic for us. First, they were not lump crab meat, as listed. We didn't like that they were battered and deep-fried, and very wet inside. Lon was bothered by the overwhelming flavor of roasted red peppers. We both loved the corn salsa.

The sesame crusted tuna was seared nicely and evenly but we did not feel that it was sushi-grade as described to us. It was under-seasoned but the salad and dressing was nice.

The Mozzarella and Tomato Tower was topped with a delicious balsamic drizzle and garden fresh basil. The mozzarella was too cold and therefore too hard. It needs to be brought closer to room temperature for optimal texture.

The generous portion of Filet Mignon was pretty good (we asked for rare and got a nice medium rare) and served with a nice Merlot Sauce. Lon loved the fried onions, except that they were cold. The mashed potato was good. The vegetables were way too oily and over-cooked.

The Duck Legs were disappointing, over-cooked and stringy. The skin was soft, not crispy. The raspberry sauce was a nice flavor and we loved the sweet potato mash. Again, mushy vegetables.

The lamb chops were cooked a bit unevenly, a few pieces were past the medium-rare we had asked for, but I enjoyed the slightly minted dijon sauce. The same mashed potatoes and veggies accompanied this dish.

By now, we were stuffed. We asked for a small portion of dessert and got a giant plate. Lon liked the cheesecake but I thought it was salty. The molten chocolate cake was standard and the banana foster wasn't really a foster but bananas are always yummy to us. The ice cream cookie was the best.


Whoever, came up with this dessert deserves an award. The cookie was like a thin layer of granola bar, perfect for holding the vanilla ice cream, because it was strong yet chewy, so that it didn't push out the ice cream. It was then dipped in chocolate.

Generally, the plates were all arranged nicely and portions were really large. Some items need work and now that we have our notes, we're probably going to be the biggest pain their chef has ever seen.