Calvin’s The Ridge

October 26, 2015. THE RIDGE IS NOW OPEN ONLY FOR PRIVATE PARTIES. I attended two company parties at the Ridge – one (Christmas Party) in 2013 when they had just opened. There appeared to be only 4 – 5 staff (including the bartender and the manager) for our group of 30 – 40 people. They were totally overwhelmed and had only half of the steaks ordered, so the poor waitress had to come back and ask who would voluntarily change their order to something else. The food was delivered very unevenly – some people had finished when others were just being served their meals. My guest and I had never experienced such a fiasco and decided that they had opened before they were ready.
Fast forward to 2014 when this same group chose to try it again for the company Christmas party. (We were thinking they had surely had time to get all the kinks worked out, but we had everyone order their meat choice ahead of time, so that it would facilitate them having what they needed on hand. The bartender was a woman whom, my friend and I were told, was filling in for the usual person. I ordered a Tom Collins (a drink that has been around for decades) and she had never heard of it and made it clear she she was not interested in trying to make one. (In this day of smartphones, the recipe-​which contains nothing exotic-​complete with picture is readily available, if you don’t have a bar manual.) I brought her the recipe (written down from MY smartphone) – she read it and said she had never heard of a Collins glass (even though other drinks were made and served in tall glasses that were exactly what a Collins glass is). Then she said they didn’t have soda water. (In a BAR!!!) She did finally consent to make one, but the concoction she brought to our table was undrinkable (my friend tried it, too).
My friend and I had arrived 10 minutes after the ‘social hour’ start time and got the last 2 appetizers on several platters. No more were forth-​coming. People talked and circulated for quite some time, and we thought they must surely be going to start serving the entres when someone announced the salad bar was available. Everyone (hungrily!) headed for the salad bar. It was pretty decent. Another long passage of time and FINALLY the main courses began to arrive. Many folks had ordered prime rib. At least half a dozen people were served, basically, a slab of raw meat. One of the people at our table had a steak that wasn’t even seared on the outside – it literally glowed red in the subdued lighting. The person didn’t eat it, asked them to put it in a container to take it home, and we heard later that it made a good dinner the next day when it was cooked the medium rare it was supposed to have been.
Again, they seemed totally under-​staffed and under-​prepared, even though the prices were on the My friend and I promised ourselves we would never eat there again, no matter who was footing the bill. I declined several invitations afterward to eat there with friends, steering them to another restaurant. The prices are definitely ‘upscale’. I am not at all surprised that they could not stay open as a regular restaurant!

Marshalltown is a town that at one time, had many great restaurants and eating establishments. Due to changing demographics, that number has dwindled over the years. The Ridge is a nice place to go for a nice meal in Marshalltown.
I took my mother here for dinner for her birthday and we were greeted by a young man who also served as our waiter. Dinners come with a salad bar, which featured slightly browned lettuce, along with a variety of prepared salads, including pea salad, coleslaw, 3-​bean salad and Oreo fluff. Pickled herring was also available. Disappointingly small selection of dressings, only ranch and blue cheese were in buckets – the rest were the cheap packets you get at Wal-​Mart when you buy a prepared salad out of the deli case. There’s also a soup selection available (didn’t try it), along with toppings for baked potatoes, which can be ordered as a meal for $ 8 (salad bar, soup, and baked potatoes).
We ordered the spinach dip as an appetizer, which comes with toasted pita chips. A generous amount (approximately 24) came with the dip which didn’t lack flavor, but was slightly runnier than what people may expect spinach dip to be; however I didn’t mind it at all. The pita chips were toasted to perfection and were sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, which I felt was a nice touch.
I ordered the filet de burgo and it was very, very tender. Might be the best filet I’ve had in my life, I’m pretty sure they cooked it over an actual grill. The herb butter sauce was served on the side. You also get a nice loaf of crusty bread with whipped butter with dinner. I was amused by a couple of things – one was the music playing in the background which were all out of the 60s. I love oldies as much as someone 20 years ago, but I thought it was out of place for a restaurant that markets itself as upscale. The other was the use of cheap paper napkins, which seemed out of place.
Including tip and an alcoholic beverage for myself, dinner came out to be $ 60 for two. Our server was very polite, but perhaps seemed slightly nervous the entire time. All in all, if you happen to be stuck in Marshalltown for some reason and want a nice meal, this is a fine option.