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Business & Tech

Restaurant Review: Generations

This week Patch reviews Generations restaurant in Upper Providence Township.

Restaurant:
Address:  9 State Rd., Media, PA 19063
Rating: (out of 5 stars): ★★★
Style: Steakhouse/American restaurant
Food: American steakhouse classics, pastas and seafood
Atmosphere: Understated
Parking: Huge lot
Service: Friendly
Price Range: Moderate
Unique Features: Happy hours, 3-course prix fixe and drink specials.

Restaurant in Upper Providence Township is a restaurant that is all over the place. The main dining room looks and feels like a stately mansion but they host quizzo and have happy hours. There is low lighting, plenty of bookshelves, wooden furniture and a universal whispering policy. I felt like I was in a library. The menu has steaks, pasta dishes, crab cakes, tomato and mozzarella salad and jambalaya. I was hard pressed to figure out exactly what kind of restaurant it was trying to be.

The four of us were quite hungry and some took advantage of the 3-course prix fixe. They started out with excellent iceberg wedge, tomato and mozzarella salad and Generations salad. The wedge arrived as the steakhouse classic should, with blue cheese dressing, crunchy bacon bits, grape tomatoes and balsamic drizzle. It was on point. The tomato and mozzarella salad was fairly good. The tomatoes were plump and juicy and the fresh cheese, cool and creamy. The balsamic drizzle showed up once again and provided a nice contrast to the cheese and tomato. The Generations salad with mixed greens, carrots, grape tomatoes, red onions and cucumbers with a side of thousand island dressing was a better than average version of a garden salad.

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For our entrees we had the frutti di mare with clams, mussels and calamari over linguine, the jambalaya, the pasta a la norma (penne, grilled chicken, tomatoes, eggplant and roasted garlic) and the famous crabcakes. The frutti di mare was brimming with seafood and swimming in a pool of marinara sauce. The noodles were a touch overcooked and the sauce didn’t pack quite the punch we had been hoping for. It was a mild seafood dish.

The jambalaya was huge but light on flavor. Jambalaya at its best is a spicy, exciting dish with little bursts of seafood or sausage. This version was visually appealing but tasted underseasoned and had very little if any, heat.

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The pasta a la Norma was good. There was a generous amount of chicken and vegetables and the pasta was fairly well cooked. This dish was seasoned well and only got better after a night in the fridge. While the other entrees were a bit meek, this one was in your face and bursting with flavor.

The crabcakes took the blue ribbon at dinner as everyone who saw it, had to have a bite. Two crisp and expertly fried orbs of crab goodness were displayed prominently on the plate next to a mound of mashed potatoes and sautéed vegetables. Unlike other crabcakes that rely on starchy fillers and binding agents, these crabcakes were 95 percent crab meat on the inside. So crunchy on the outside and filled with sweet crab meat on the inside, these were delicious. I didn’t care for the cocktail sauce that came on the side but the tartar sauce was a nice option.

Included in the prix fixe was dessert for two of us so we ordered the bananas foster and tiramisu. The bananas foster was unbelievably sweet and literally just a plate of sautéed bananas, ice cream and caramel sauce. It was a case of overkill for me. The tiramisu had been frozen and not properly thawed out. I could taste ice crystals in the filling. Given enough time to reach an optimal temperature, I think this dessert would be much better.

The service was friendly and enthusiastic. Our server was young but quite pleasant. Our order was taken expertly and efficiently and food came out in a timely fashion. Dirty plates were cleared right away and water glasses filled regularly. All in all it was a decent dinner experience despite the initial identity crisis.

Click here for the website.

Click here for the menu.

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