February 2018 - Eat it Charlotte

Address: 7716 Rea Rd, Charlotte, NC 28277 Restaurant Type: Wanna be Upscale. Sometimes I want to write a review to tell the world about a great new place. Other times I want warn people to stay away. Firebirds Wood Fired Grill is a review I wrote so I can get the pictures out of my phone, the memory out of my head and the taste out of my mouth... I have driven by Firebirds Wood Fired Grill several times, and had the opportunity to go there for free on a work function. I tried many menu items, all should have been safe. My meal at Firebirds Wood Fired Grill was so bad it proves that free can be expensive. I get it, this place is a chain...I just realized it too late. The Good: It is nicely decorated, I liked the open kitchen. It gave me hope that the food would be good. The salad was tasty, yet was fairly sweet. Then I realized they basically put candy on top of it, with the nuts coated in sugar. Another weird aspect of what I can consider "the good" was that my fork was freezing cold. Not just cold, ice cold, I lost two fingers that day due to frost bite (in September). They must have hoped to kill my taste buds, so I wouldn't taste the other courses. The Bad: How on earth do you F up a steak. Well there are plenty of ways, but a sure-fire way is to start with bad meat. I eat a lot of steak, and I like my ribeye with some fat for flavor. Unfortunately, this steak was almost all fat, I was searching for the meat. It was like someone a took a spoon to a 600 pounder's stomach, given the amount of lard on the plate. I wasn't the only one who had this problem everyone at the table who ordered the steak experienced this gastrointestinal tragedy. There are too many good steak places to accept a sub-par meal. Really, this place may have been Applebee's wearing a glitzy disguise. As bad as the steak was, it wasn't the worst part of the meal, that came with their opener... The Ugly: When you ask a waiter in a real restaurant what is good, you get an honest answer. When you ask a 16-year-old waiter, you get a 16-year-olds standard. When we asked how is the Lobster Spinach Queso, we should have known when he said, "it is a favorite." I would love to meet the person who likes this dish and ask from which prison did they escape... I asked how can you mess up steak, so now I ask how can you mess up lobster and queso? Well that is easy, serve prepackaged frozen crap. Then proceed to give it to your customers when it isn't fully defrosted. Biting into ice cold bits really puts a damper on a dish. Firebirds Wood Fired Grill should be embarrassed to put this frozen monstrosity on their menu... The entire dish was awful and summed up the whole night. It is funny that people get all dressed up to go there. The only accessary needed is a ripped T-shirt and a "Make America Great Again" hat. The Verdict 3.5 out of 10: I didn't die so there is that, but that's the only thing that kept the score up. Last night I went to 131 Main and had a great steak for $5 more ($33). The menu prices are similar, just a touch more expensive, but your taste buds deserve to have a few more dollars spent on them. I wonder how chains like these stay in business, even in Charlotte. Firebirds should either be extinguished or fly the coop...