Mohawk House, Sparta

I love restaurants that have big fireplaces, and high beamed ceilings. The smell of burning wood and food can make me dizzy sometimes. But if there's one thing I hate doing, it's spending a ton of money on mediocre food. Oh. My. God. I hate hate hate it! Have you guessed that this is what happened at the Mohawk House in Sparta?

Sparta is one of those towns, unlike Hackettstown as mentioned in the Pandan Room, that's all fancy and little grit and character. In all of Sussex County, it's one of the most expensive places to live, and from what I remember, most of the folks I've met from there are kinda snobby. I won't discriminate but at least it gives you some idea of what you might find if you went to eat or shop in Sparta.

Located about 1/4 mile from Route 15, when you pull into the restaurant, prepare to give the valet your keys. Ugh, valet parking. Give me the option to park my own car, please. I'm not sure if there was this option there, but we jumped out, all decked out and ready for a more "classy" dining experience. Had I known that others were wearing jeans, I would've obliged! But, there's hardly a time where I dress up just to go out to eat, so my husband and I were happy to do it since it's "once in a blue moon".

The first thing that catches you is the dimly lit interior and fireplace. The restaurant itself is pretty large and also has a loft. We were seated right next to the fireplace, which is kind of nice since it was so cold outside. Once seated, our very professional waiter asked for our drink orders...the beer list is pretty impressive and so the men each ordered beer and us ladies got wine. Everyone seemed happy, with the exception of my husband's beer. He was pretty sure that the beer was flat and tasted bad, which could have been due to the beer sitting in the lines for awhile or was just skunked. He had to ask for something else altogether.

Everyone decided to order appetizers...I got the cheese plate, which had several varieties to choose from. I opted for the Bijou, Gouda, and Manchego. The cheeses were accompanied by truffle honey, smoked almonds, olives, and crackers. I could have cared less for the crackers...it was like eating air. But the honey coupled with each of the cheeses made me happy. I did not, however, like the almonds. They were chewey and way too smokey...I felt like I was chewing on some old wood right off the fire. Yuck. Others ordered the appetizer portion of the scallops and the crab cake. Everyone seemed happy with their choices.

On to dinner. Since it's been eons since I've had scallops, I decided to order this as my dinner/entree...others ordered the braised short ribs and steak. I was disappointed with my dish for sure. The scallops were cooked perfectly, but the sauce was supposed to be a lobster bisque, and it tasted more like a bland tomato sauce. The scallops sat on top of salsify, and some edamame peppered the plate. Topping the scallops were a fried "hay" of sweet potato. The sweet potato was more for a garnish, which was disappointing because I LOVE sweet potato. The salsify was new for me, it's a kind of root vegetable, almost like a weed, but has the consistency of a parsnip or carrot once cooked. It went well but overall the dish was not harmonious. I was really disappointed in the flavors, but the portion was large and I didn't get past two scallops.

I was totally into my husband's braised short rib with cabbage and mashed potatoes. He wasn't a fan of the cabbage, which was a benefit to me thank you very much. Overall, everyone at the table "liked" their food but none of was were singing its praises. The consensus was, this was nice but we won't come back. I figured that I should, at the very least, give dessert a try. This too was a disappointment. I love sweets, but the Spiced Apple Upside Down cake was so sweet that I couldn't get past the third bite. I tried so hard! The cake looked dry but was moist, and the apple pieces inside the cake were too big. The cider caramel didn't complement the cake whatsoever, and the whole thing was just a big pile of sugar and I just had enough of this whole dinner! We sipped our coffee, and $300 later (YES, you read right) for four people, we were pretty disgusted. I had a hard time parting with our money, because as I said in the beginning of this post, I HATE spending good money on mediocre food. But here we were and I vowed never to do this again!

If you want to get some decent food in Sussex County and pay a little too much money, make a visit to the Mohawk House. I'd recommend you sit at the bar and order from the bar menu. You still get the ambience and the warmth of the fireplace, but without the same expense. If you love beer, you might like this place. Next time, if there IS a next time, we'll sit at the bar and order a burger or something. The service will be faster there too. Take a sample of the beer before you get a pint, and watch your wallet!

Food: ***
Service: ***
Ambience: ****
Overall: ***