Golden Finch is located on High Street in Morgantown. It is a finer restaurant, but a good happy medium between casual and fine dining. I love how restaurants on High Street have nice window dining areas, as is the case with Golden Finch. The entire front is glass, so you can people watch while you dine. It's a fairly small restaurant, but don't doubt it.

We walked in, and the host/waiter seated us. Their menu boasts soups, salads, appetizers, sandwiches, grand meals, and a great selection of desserts. I quickly noticed that they have a caprese salad, which made my day. This is typically giant slabs of fresh mozzarella and tomatoes. So, I put in my order for a caprese salad. The rest of the menu looked delicious, too, but the thing that stood out to me was the Creole Shrimp and Grits. It's spicy shrimp sauteed in a tasso ham, sweet onion cream sauce served over cheesy grits. I had heard this dish was great from other reviews, so I went for it.

We waited for awhile - service was a bit spotty. My friend received her meal and nearly finished it before I received mine. Granted, she ordered an appetizer as an entree, but she requested it as her main entree. Oh well.

My caprese salad came out, and I was slightly confused. It was a giant pile of baby greens and spinach, covered in balsamic vinaigrette, with a few tomatoes and balls of mozzarella on the edges. In my experience, tomatoes and mozzarella made up the bulk of the caprese salad, and baby greens were there as a supporting role. Not the case with this salad. I was actually disappointed because I was ready to dig into some huge juicy tomato slices and giant chunks of mozzarella. The spinach was tasty, but I wish the tomatoes and mozzarella were more prominent. But this dish alone was good. It also had two cornbread muffins, which were a nice addition.

My main dish came out as a giant stew, almost. I bit into a piece of shrimp, and whoa, it did have that cajun kick. Tiny bits of ham were throughout the sauce, and hearty grits made up the base of the dish. I wasn't overly impressed with the flavors, but it was something new. The spicy creamy sauce was a good pairing for the slightly cheesy grits. The shrimp and ham added some bite to the dish, and it was something I've never had before. It was also a huge portion - so much so that I had to get a to-go box for the remainder. I'm not sure if I'd order this again, but I was impressed with the creativity and thought that went into this dish.

Dessert was next, and they had a wide variety to choose from. The one that made me salivate was the strawberry ginger creme brulee. Wow. This creme brulee had a very thick sugary piece and delicious creaminess underneath. This dessert was so fresh and light, but with a creative spin on typical creme brulee. Their other desserts sounded fantastic, as well, but this was out of this world. It was to die for.

My meal came to around $35 with tip - for a drink, salad, entree and dessert. That's not bad, but that's a little high for a college kid budget. Try it, though, for something new and different.


Grade: B