Silas Marley Restaurant and Tavern is located at 8705 East Brainerd Road. Click to enlarge.
photo by Janet Wilson
Thanks to a visitor to our Dine Out site, we found Silas Marley Restaurant and Tavern, located at 8705 East Brainerd Road. If the front parking lot is full, don’t let that scare you off, there’s more parking in the back, as well as a second entrance. You can enter from either East Brainerd or Morris Hill.
The main floor houses the bar area, along with numerous tables and a small stage/platform with a piano. We found the piano music to be quite conducive to an enjoyable, relaxing meal. The smoking area is located on the loft overlooking the main floor with a clear view of the stage.
The majority of the tables are the high, bar-type tables with swivel chairs. We both liked the copper-tops on the tables; very unique.
Silas Marley starts the day with lunch. The menu consists of two salads – Smoked Chicken Caesar Salad and Grande Cobb Salad – both priced at $7.95. The remainder of the menu consists of ten sandwiches served with fresh hand cut fries. It seems that the best selling sandwich is the Five Star Philly ($9.95). This is Angus filet mignon tidbits sautéed in red wine beef reduction, with grilled sweet peppers, red onion and a Portobello mushroom served on a toasted hoagie roll.
A few of the other sandwiches are a Smoked Chicken Salad Wrap ($6.95), wrapped in a hand-pressed flour tortilla; Fried Shrimp Po-Boy ($7.95) with hand-breaded Gulf Shrimp; and Smoked Turkey and Provolone on Berry Wheat Bread ($5.75).
There are several appetizers on the dinner menu and we selected the Spinach and Artichoke Dip, with chunks of Artichoke. We enjoyed this and found it to not be as “stringy” as some we have been served.
There were so many delicious descriptions on the entrees; it was difficult to make that final decision. I finally chose the Herb-crusted Prime Rib ($17.95), which is a 12-ounce Aged Angus hand cut prime rib served with a creamy dill horseradish sauce. Wayne selected the New York Strip Diane ($17.95), also 12-ounces, and served with Diane Sauce, a creamy red wine mushroom sauce. When our meal was served and I tasted Wayne’s Diane Sauce, I had to order my own – it was fantastic.
Some of the other entrees are Tequila Lime Chicken ($13.95); Apple Smoked Pork Tenderloin ($15.95); Almond Crusted Salmon with Dill Cream Fransche ($14.95), and Old World Lasagna ($12.95), which we were told is a family recipe from Executive Chef David Lescher. Our server, Brent, was very knowledgeable regarding the menu.
Both our steaks were cooked as ordered and were quite tender (although I could have used a steak knife). We both selected the Baked Potato as our side, although the menu was a little confusing on this point. It has “Entrees served with bread, salad, vegetable du jour and potato of choice or rice pilaf.” To me that sounded as if you would get the vegetable and then were to choose between the potato or rice. Since we didn’t get a vegetable, I am assuming that isn’t what it means.
All salad dressing is made in-house and we especially enjoyed the Balsamic Vinaigrette that was not over-strong with vinegar. The bread served with the meal was a white and dark brown swirl, served with an herbed butter.
We have been trying to stay away from desserts, but Silas Marley had a few extremely tempting offerings and Wayne couldn’t pass up the White Chocolate Morte ($4.95) served with a Raspberry Sauce which he said was outstanding. I ordered the Vanilla Crème Brulee ($5.50). I was glad to find the custard was slightly warm and the coating was light and crunchy – easy to break through. I hate it when someone serves me ice cold Crème Brulee!
We found Silas Marley’s to be the type of restaurant that this area has been lacking. They have only been open two weeks and are still getting their bearings, but we had no problems with the service or food. I also liked the fact there are restrooms on both levels, although the ones upstairs still need a little “tweaking” with items to add warmth to the atmosphere, such as possibly pictures on the wall, a shelf with hand lotions or maybe a nice throw rug, a basket of potpourri – something to make the restroom an extension of the restaurant. We enjoyed our visit and I’m sure we will be back again.
Hours for Silas Marley Restaurant and Tavern are Monday through Thursday from 11:00 AM until 10:00 PM; Friday and Saturday until 11:00 PM; and Sunday - Brunch only – from 11:00 AM until 3:00 PM.
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