Review of the Peak City Grill & Bar, Apex

            On Tuesday, after meeting with our wedding officiants, we drove through Apex on our way home.  We have heard that the Peak City Grill has a good reputation, so we figured we would stop and eat dinner since it was already after seven.  For a Tuesday night, they were packed.  The hostess told us that it would be a 30 minutes wait, unfortunately, it lasted almost 50 minutes. 

            Once seated, we ordered the Shrimp Hushpuppies for our appetizer.  In a few short minutes, we had our seven piping-hot hushpuppies.  The shrimp were very large and breaded in hushpuppy batter.  It is such a simple concept, yet I’ve never seen it anywhere else before.  They were delicious; crunchy on the outside, yet soft on the inside.  The stone ground mustard aioli was the perfect complement to the hushpuppies.  This is definitely a dish that I would recommend to friends. 

            I ordered a side Caesar salad.  This was the only disappointing part of our meal.  It was about seven small Romaine leaves topped with four small croutons, a few shavings of Parmesan, and dressing.  The dressing was good, but I would have preferred a heavier amount.  The size and amount of the croutons and the less-than-ample Parmesan were disappointing.  With just a few changes, this could be much better. 

            For Megan’s main course, she ordered the 10oz Sirloin Steak, medium-rare, with a loaded baked potato. Her steak was marinated in red wine and peppercorns and then served with the Peak City Grill’s Compound Butter.  The steak was amazing.  It was cooked perfectly and Megan described it as “one of the best steaks she has tasted.”  When I tried a bite, I agree, it is a VERY good steak.  Megan was then in awe at the huge size of the baked potato filled with butter, sour cream, bacon, chives, and cheese. This steak was well worth its price.  

            For my dinner, I ordered the Goat Cheese Gnocchi.  It was served mixed with pan-roasted Shiitakes, cherry tomatoes, and sweet corn.  It was also served with roasted tomatoes, which was not in the description on the menu or I would have known to ask for them to be removed.  As someone who doesn’t really like tomatoes, I wish these were not present.  However, the flavor combination of this dish was great.  I love goat cheese and gnocchi, so the combination could not be beat.  The freshness of the sweet corn combined with fresh thyme was amazing and the Shiitakes were hearty and delicious.  Oh, this was the first time I’ve eaten Shiitakes in a non-Asian dish, and I am a big fan of them because of this dish.  This dish is another that I would seriously consider ordering again.  Unfortunately, the picture I took came out blurry, or I could show you how wonderful it was.

            Despite the fact that our entire experience at the Peak City Grill took over two and half hours, the food was definitely worth the wait. Based on what we ate, the Peak City Chef (be it Brendan Cox from their website or James Lee from their Facebook page) could very well be one of the best chefs in the area.  I guarantee we will be back at the Peak City Grill again in the near future and this time, we’ll be bringing our friends too.

Category	Scale 1-5 stars
Food Quality
Food Creativity
Service
Atmosphere
Value for the price