Kiepersol Estates Restaurant
21508 Merlot Road
Tyler, TX 75703
http://www.kiepersol.com/restaurant/index.shtml
Kiepersol Estates Restaurant is a high end restaurant located on the Kiepersol Winery complex. My wife and I had a babysitter so we decided to have a nice dinner on a Tuesday evening. The place is a short drive south of Tyler and located next to the winery. The restaurant is nestled at the northern part of a loop of nice homes. I think Kiepersol is really unique in that it has a neighborhood, a winery and a restaurant all within the grounds. Very interesting concept.
The spread: The menu is focused with four appetizers: shrimp cocktail, crabcakes, duck cigars and oysters Rockafeller. There is one soup - lobster bisque and three salads to choose from. The entrees are standard steakhouse fare: Ribeye, filet, NY strip, lamb chops. Also available is the seabass, salmon and chicken entrees. For dessert you have a choice of creme brulee, molten chocolate cake, bananas foster and cherries jubilee. The prices are high for Tyler, but very reasonable considering. Sometimes at fancy places I feel like they really try and gouge you for getting appetizers, desserts, etc., but at Kiepersol they are fairly priced. Of course, they have an extensive wine list with a concentration on Texas produced wines.
The verdict: We split the crabcakes and they were well prepared with a nice sear and plenty of crab meat. The accompanying sauce was a little bland and I think they could have added a little more seasoning to the crab cakes to make them stand out. My wife had the house salad, which she enjoyed, it was a unique salad made with baby greens, spiced pecans and cranberries
topped with a roasted tomato, Texas basil goat crème cheese and pecan-balsamic vinaigrette. I tried the lobster bisque and it was a bit of a disappointment as the lobster was overcooked and base was bland (although I did enjoy the presentation with a KE spelled out of creme fresh). My wife had the filet and I had the ribeye. This was where I was really disappointed. My wife ordered her filet medium and I ordered my ribeye medium rare, the filet came out medium well and the ribeye was medium. I know this is a small point, but when you are spending 34 and 40 bucks for a steak, you want it to be cooked perfectly. Also, the steaks tasted like they were not properly aged - I could have cooked a better steak at home. We both decided on the creme brulee for dessert and again we were both let down with the results. First off, the caramelized top was a little more burnt than we liked and the filling was cold. Also, I think they had prepared these the day before as it felt a little too 'set' and lost a lot of the creaminess I expect from a creme brulee. One last disappointment was the service. We had a YOUNG kid serving us and one other table (only two tables on Tuesday) and the service was just not up to snuff for the amount of money we were spending. The service was adequate at best and he was poorly trained in fine dining (for instance he reached across me between me and my plate while I was eating to fill my water, also the service was slooooow for him only have two tables). The one star of the night was the wine. I had a pinot grigio to start and a cabernet with my steak and my wife had a zinfindel (all Kiepersol wines) and they were all outstanding. I will definitely be drinking more wine from Kiepersol.
Edible Tyler Roses: 2 out of 5. I simply cannot justify spending $170 dollars on a dinner where the food was bland, the service was adequate and the wine was great. Save your money on the food and just pick up a couple of bottles of wine.
