Upon arriving at Sullivan's for their grand opening on February 9th, I was pleasantly surprised to find the place full of people, nicely decorated with a stylish vintage appeal, and seemingly overstaffed by about 30 people or so. To say that the service was adequate is a slight understatement; if anything, it was a little overbearing at times. A bombardment of waiters, busboys and managers attending to us so frequently that we didn't have very much time for conversation at times. I fully understand that this was the grand opening and they wanted to make as positive an impression as possible, but at times I took literally one sip of water before someone came along and refilled the glass. Every waiter is trained to throw a sales pitch at you with regard to how amazingly wonderful the food is, which in my opinion shouldn't be necessary if a restaurant's reputation - especially a 'high end' chain like Sullivan's - precedes itself. Regardless, while slightly overwrought the service was immensely friendly and helpful.

As for the food, the standard Filet Mignon was cooked well. But, as with so many other chain restaurants, was incredibly salty. Several of the other people I was with agreed with regard to their respective steaks. At $28.00 and up, one should never be adding so much salt to a decent piece of meat, even when rolled in an herb crust. Pleasantly, the other side dishes such as creamed spinach and mashed potatoes were very tasty (although the crab fried rice was also very salty). The desserts were huge and well prepared, and very fairly priced.

I consider the overall experience to be a balancing act between very decent if not somewhat overbearing service (in the form of sales pitches) and fairly good food - provided the saltiness of the steak could be reduced.

I look forward to trying out their Thursday jazz nights and specials.

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