The Blind Fig restaurant takes root in Riverside (originally Salty Fig)

[sonoandrea]

I've eaten here once and was grossly disappointed.  I *wanted* to love it...its  beautiful space, I liked the concept, I thought the menu looked good and I liked that they started as a food truck. 

I dined for lunch, by myself.  Service was terrible - my server seemed bothered to be taking care of me, her first words to me were "Are you ready to order?"  I was particularly annoyed about this when the server for the table near me went over the specials and offered a house made lemonade that I definitely would have ordered had I known about it.  I was also unimpressed with the food.  I ordered shrimp and grits...the grits contained hard, old lumps of grits and the shrimp were undercooked and flavorless.  To be fair, when I alerted the manager he was very apologetic (and he even came back to tell me that the chef sent his apologies and was appalled that the grits went out like that) and he took the meal off my bill.  He also *seemed* interested in my suggestion to carry gluten free hamburger buns so that their burgers and sandwiches could be offered to people with gluten intolerance. 

Between my own experience and the experience of a trusted friend who has dined there twice and had very similar experiences to mine both times, I don't think I'll be back and I don't think I will be trying the new beach location.

[BoldBoyOfTheSouth]

I usually like to try new and interesting dishes. The food at The Blind Fig was OK at best. 

Marketed correctly, it's a decent meal. They just are trying to be more than they are.

Hopefully, they'll take constructive criticism and try to become the great place they aspire to be.

[mtraininjax]

Wow - at this rate, the Garage may have better food than The Blind/Salty Fig.

[ben says]

I agree with the above 4 comments.

Great space, great bar.

Terribly trained waitstaff. At its best, mediocre food.

[ChriswUfGator]

They had a couple real stand-outs on the menu, their meatloaf sandwich especially was delicious, but they took the good stuff off a month or two after they opened. What's left is the high-profit margin stuff that seems like it costs $3 to make but you can sell it for $20, e.g. the shrimp and grits. There's also a black hole in the middle of the menu, once you get past a side salad the lightest thing to order is basically the fish tacos, other than the burger and a heavy sandwich with fried oysters, they don't really have any sandwiches or things like that. Which pretty much crosses it off the list for lunch, since nobody wants a dinner entree. The place does have potential though, and a great bar.

[funwithteeth]

I love the fried oyster & pork belly sandwich, but yeah, it's not something you'd want to get too often. Unless it's your aim to get real fat and/or have a near-fatal heart attack before turning 50.

I've not ventured beyond that sandwich because I've heard from other people —and as the last string of posts indicate—the quality of the food gets dicey beyond that.

[TPC]

I've only had drinks there due to the lack of vegetarian options but the bar is top notch.

[Kay]

I've enjoyed every meal I've had at Salty Fig.  Many of their options are carb heavy so may not be the place to go if you are trying to lose weight.  I'd like to see a better red wine selection.

[Tony B]

Met some friends at the Blind Fig last - had some very good drinks - they have a great bar then walked across King st. to Kickbacks to eat.  Perfect solution to the menu / food situation at fig.

I'm really looking forward to Kickbacks finishing up the construction and getting the full beer selection back.