STEVE'S ALS REVIEW #6

For those of you who really like upscale steak houses, stop reading now.  This is going to get really ugly really quickly.  A friend recently presented us with a gift card to Sullivan’s.  We were really happy.  We had not been to the restaurant in this century.  I made reservations and off we went.
Here is what we found (remember, my reviews focus mainly on access).

SULLIVAN’S
Sullivan’s is located at Keystone at the Crossing, in a free standing building separate from the main shopping center.  We were lucky in that a handicap parking space opened up just as we entered the parking lot.  The parking lot itself appears small with heavy reliance on valet parking.  I think the valets use portions of the expansive shopping center parking lot.

Our reservations were for 6:15 PM on a Saturday night.  There was a ramp leading to the front door and of course, no automatic door opener.  Another diner was gracious in offering assistance. 
I know that some of this may be blamed on the season, but the entryway where we waited to be seated was cramped – it was just too small for the number of people milling about.  Getting to our table was hard.  There just wasn’t room in the aisles for my scooter.  A staff member accompanied us and ran interference.   When I made our reservations I had requested a booth (transfer to a booth is just much easier for me than to a chair at a table).  And so we were directed to a table.  Ultimately the staff accommodated our request to move to a booth.

Our routine is to get me seated and then my wife drives the scooter to some out of the way spot of the restaurant’s choosing.   Sullivan’s chose it’s coat room.  So, my wife threaded her way back through the maze of tables and left the scooter in the designated area.

Our server did a really good job.  The food was good, and should have been.  Sullivan’s is not inexpensive.  It is also not relaxing.  The restaurant was full and very noisy.  But more nerve wracking was the aisle next to our booth.  Sullivan’s has a large staff, and the aisle featured  a never ending rapid flow of food, drinks, water and tea refills, and dirty dishes.

Think I 465 with people instead of cars.

Finally, it was time to leave.  Off to the coat room went my wife only to find that the scooter was wedged into the room in such a way as to be impossible to remove.  A kind soul came to her assistance.  Then it was back to picking her way through the narrow passage.  Again, there was help from a staff member.  When I transferred onto the scooter, I 465 came to a screeching halt.  I smiled.  Getting out of the main dining area was just as you can by now imagine.
As you know, I always try to describe the bathroom experience.  Not this time.  The bathrooms are located in the entry area.  By the time we got to the entry, throngs equal to the population of Anderson, Indiana were squeezed into the room.  Fortunately, I had been modest in my iced tea consumption, because there was no possible way for me to reach the men’s room.
Sullivan’s is a popular restaurant.  It will survive this review.  The better question is whether I will survive another visit Sullivan’s.

Probably not.  ½ scooter.


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