My girlfriends and I love to make fun plans! There’s times during the year when we hang out many times in one month due to different events that are going on, but then there are times that we go several months without all getting together. We decided to fix this by planning a monthly get together, which we now call “First Mondays!”
Our plan is to get together for a dinner/happy hour every first Monday of the month. And we are going to try to rotate the location around and choose different restaurants to go to each time. We are all so spread out now…living from South Philly all the way out to Morgantown, so finding semi-central locations for everyone is key!
This past Monday was our FIRST First Monday ever!! We chose to go to the new Southern Cross Kitchen in Conshohocken, PA. They are located right across the bridge in town and parking is easy if you get a spot in the parking garage right across the street. Southern Cross Kitchen is owned and ran by the same people that own Stella Blu and Gypsy, both also located in Conshohocken.
A few of us got there early and sat at the bar to start. The service was good and pleasant and the decor was really cute. When everyone arrived, we had no problem getting a table in the dining area on a Monday night. The dining area on the first floor was fairly small, but they did have a very large upstairs as well, which can be rented out for private parties. I will say I had very high hopes for this restaurant – there’s not too many places I know of that specialize in Southern food. However, I was slightly disappointed and thought the food to be just average.
I started with a small macaroni and cheese appetizer. (Yes, I cheated on the gluten-free diet…HAD to have mac and cheese!) I figured in a Southern restaurant, it was going to be the best thing I ever ate. Again, I just found it to be average – not worth cheating on the diet. For dinner, I got a salad, which seemed small for an entree-size.
But then the worst part, was when I tried to order something to bring home to Pat for later. The menu looked like it had lots of great meat – braised short ribs, baby back ribs, sauteed chicken. But most of them had pretty different sides (which you can expect in a Southern Restaurant). For example, the braised short ribs came with cheddar grits and gravy and brussel sprouts. I knew Pat didn’t like either of these, so I wanted to see if I could switch them for other sides on the menu, such as mashed potatoes. They told me that they didn’t switch out sides. You have to get what comes with the entree. It was kind of a shame that you were locked into exactly what is listed with each entree.
I ended up ordering Pat the baby back ribs (which came with soggy looking baked beans and coleslaw – also not able to be substituted out) and he just ate the ribs. Sadly, he mentioned that they were just “okay” as well.
Overall, I probably would not go back to this restaurant and probably wouldn’t recommend it. However, I was glad we tried it out and tried something new. I was also VERY glad to kick off our FIRST First Monday!! And I’m looking forward to many more to come!!
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