Get ready, y'all. It's steakhouse time. I put on my nicest pair of black pants for this outing to Charles Town to dine at the Final Cut Steakhouse. This steakhouse, located at Hollywood Casino, is not totally unfamiliar to me. Their folks once shipped me some of their sauces in order for me to try them out and to get the word out (why do some of my old blog posts show photos rotated? ugh).

I reached out to my friend Brandon, who lives in DC. Charles Town is just about 1.5 hours from him, so he graciously accepted my offer to meet up for dinner.


After parking (East Gate!) in the parking garage - which is free - we headed to the main floor in search of steak. What I didn't think about is how smoky the entire casino would be on the way to the actual restaurant. Blechhhh.

The steakhouse itself is lovely inside. It's dark, suave ... as classy as a casino steakhouse can be, I suppose.


For starters, we had a basket of bread that was fairly unremarkable. We chatted for a bit while making our final menu selections.

Then, in a sort of perfectly timed dance that carried throughout the night, our entrees came out. I ordered an 8 oz. filet mignon with a side of steak sauce ($3). It comes a la carte, so we also ordered a side of truffle mac & cheese.

The steak is charred on the outside, and it was definitely overdone. The outside was well-done, and once I got to the middle, I was able to see just a tiny bit of pink. It was quite tender, and the flavor was decent, as well.

The side of mac & cheese was impressive. The noodles were these short tubes that were covered in a creamy cheese sauce, breadcrumbs and truffles. All in this adorable steel pot. This dish has a very earthy taste - which I love! But it is different.

And, as a small sweet bite, we were served some dark chocolates. Not a fan. So, overall thoughts. Well, I liked my steak - even if it was overdone (at a steakhouse?!), and I liked the macaroni and cheese. Did I like it $62ish worth? Meh. I've had better steaks - that come with sides. So, the restaurant seemed a little extra money hungry considering all sides and sauces were extra. A lovely time with a good friend? Yes. A delicious meal? A good one, at least.


Grade: B

It's rare that I let an ice ream parlor go unnoticed. So, as I was exploring Charles Town, Skipper's Downtown Dips & Deli made itself apparent. 

Quite a few deli items are available - sandwiches, soups, salads - but I'm all about that ice cream. Bout that ice cream. Bout that ice cream (no deli).

I ordered a waffle cone with a caramel fudge ice cream. And while the ice cream was nice and sweet and smooth, I wasn't loving the little dense bricks of fudge mixed in. Didn't love those a ton. But, you can't really go wrong with ice cream, as evidenced by 75 percent of my blog posts. A cute shop with lots of options for both lunch and dessert, so if you're taking a stroll downtown, be sure to pop in and check it out.


Grade: B

The Mediterranean Cafe in Charles Town is known amongst the locals for having good food. It boasts fresh, quality ingredients for dishes influenced by Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Lebanon and Morocco.

When I visited this restaurant, it was pretty busy. They seated me in the back at a small one-person (two if you're stretching it) table. It was actually quite cozy, and I could take in some of the really unique wall art and decorations back in my secluded corner.

Before I even ordered, they brought out a nice little sampler platter with hummus, pita, feta, and shirazi salad. What a way to start a lunch! The hummus was quite tasty, and I loved have the bit of acid in the shirazi salad to balance everything out. Love, love, love this.

The lunch menu has lots of great items: lots of salads and kabobs. For my order, I went with the Kabob Chengeh, which is lamb. While some bits were a little chewy or fatty texture wise, for the most part, the lamb was very good - especially paired with the cucumber sauce and a nice sweet bite of onion and tomato. Yes, yes and more yes.

Grade: A

"The Dining Room" is such a ... comfortable name for a restaurant. It's a room in your home, so in essence, the restaurant is saying you are part of their family. Welcome to their home. Come eat at The Dining Room.

When I walked inside the restaurant, I stood at the front for a moment. One of the servers said someone will be with me shortly. So, I shifted awkwardly alone while the open restaurant stared at me for what seemed like 15 hours. Another server came up to me and asked if she could help me. I said lunch, for one. And she goes "oh... well... sit anywhere..." OH OK. That would've been good to know three minutes prior.

Then, since there was no bar seating, or even two-person seating, or even FOUR-person seating, I sat at a table for five people. Five people. That was super cool. But, let's talk food. Because food can solve most things in my life.

I ordered their "Special Cheeseburger," which came with grilled onions, sautéed mushrooms and provolone cheese. I noticed immediately the patty was perfectly round and medium width. But, that being said, I thought it tasted decent. I like that the bun was toasted and the mushrooms plentiful. I wish the fries were just a tad crisper. I think this place has some hometown nostalgia, and if you're looking for pretty run of the mill standard country fare, this would do you good. But for something just a tad more exciting, I'd look to the surrounding cities.

Grade: C

I traveled to Petersburg solely to try 3rd Base Sports Bar and Grille, a restaurant on the 101 Most Unique Places to Dine in WV list. I called in an order so that I could just swing through, pick it up, and munch on the way home.

First up: Conqueso dip and chips. So, it was thick ... it was mostly underwhelming. Not a ton of flavor, but a little heat, at least. This is akin to a jarred Tostitos cheese dip. So.

I got an order of boneless butter garlic (golden dragon) wings. These, to me, were small little chicken nuggets with some minced garlic sprinkled on top. Maybe I missed the butter part? But, I mean, these aren't bad! They're chicken nuggets with ranch.

And finally, the hot honey bbq - or "sweat" heat? Should that be sweet heat? Idk. But, I'm glad I was finally getting some flavor here. I'm all about some sweet and tangy - and this iteration wasn't bad.

Overall, nothing here was bad. But nothing here was entirely exciting either. Decent wings with a beer is not easy to mess up. So, for a lax night for some easy, simple food - this place could be a decent bet.

Grade: C