Tandoori chicken with yellow dal, fruit and mint chutneys, sauteed sugar snap peas and brown basmati
Robin's is an "eclectic" restaurant offering dishes from all over the world (sort of the Al's Pancake World of Cambria, if you will). When I first read Robin's menu, I thought, any restaurant that serves this many different types of food can't do any of them well. Unfortunately, I overrode my instincts and gave Robin's a try anyway since it was recently voted the best restaurant in Cambria.
If I lived in Cambria, not Los Angeles, and didn't actually know what the different cuisines represented on the menu were supposed to taste like, I might have loved Robin's, too. The food, while not bland, wasn't fully or properly seasoned, leaving my tastebuds unsatisfied.
Visually, though, the food is much more pleasing than most of its more authentic counterparts. How often do you see Indian food presented so well? (Of course, well-presented Indian food, in my mind, only means one thing: rising prices. I'm just waiting for the day when Indian restaurant owners collectively realize that they are undercharging for their food. Getting that much flavor for $7.95 can't last forever!)
Crispy Vietnamese Lumpia
In lieu of an entree, I ordered several appetizers. I started with the crispy Vietnamese lumpia with homemade kimchee. Despite the fancy name, it was really just standard spring rolls, albeit fairly flavorless ones.
Panko crusted calamari with Asian slaw, sesame citrus vinaigrette, and sambal aioli
The panko crusted calamari didn't turn out to be as much of an epiphany as I had hoped--I probably wouldn't have even noticed the panko if it wasn't listed as an ingredient on the menu. The squid was properly cooked to avoid rubberyness and the sambal aioli was a tasty complement, though it would have been better served on the side. The calamari were served atop the Asian slaw, which did not add anything to the dish and mainly got in the way of eating the calamari.
Robin's salmon bisque
The salmon bisque came recommended, but while eating it I kept thinking of my Alaskan friend from college who likes to mock the salmon most people eat, saying that it's what Alaskans feed their dogs. Needless to say, I didn't get too far on this dish. Also, is orange the right color for a dish that features salmon as its main ingredient?
The tandoori chicken was quite good, though it was not a good approximation of Indian food. The chicken breast was very moist and the dal still had a pleasant bite to them rather than being stewed into oblivion. Mysteriously, there was only one sugar snap pea in the entire dish. I wouldn't mind eating this dish again, but if I wanted the richly spiced flavor of Indian food, I would look elsewhere.
Chocolate mousse
Robin's desserts come from the dreaded display case (meaning, as a rule, the desserts will be served at the wrong temperature and tinged with the stale flavor of display case air), which is why I picked the desserts that I knew weren't sitting in there (you can see the display case when you walk into the restaurant). The chocolate mousse was full of flavor, but the experience was dampened by a mound of canned whipped cream and a wilting mint garnish. I enjoyed the bread pudding more, which was drenched in sauce the way I like it.
Bread pudding
The dining room is sort of creaky and homey, like someone's living room, and diners are casually dressed. This isn't quite a date restaurant, though in Cambria your options are limited. The restaurant is normally crowded and difficult to get into on a weekend night. If the owners of our bed and breakfast hadn't hooked us up with a reservation, we would have faced a 45 minute wait at 7:00. The service was pretty slow and indifferent, which isn't what I was expecting from a restaurant that was recently given an award by diners.
Though Robin's has been open for 22 years and is so popular that it opened a sister restaurant, Novo, in San Luis Obispo, I wouldn't go back and I wouldn't recommend it. I don't think that the food lives up to the expectations of LA diners.
Robin's
4095 Burton Dr.
Cambria, CA 93428
805.927.5007
Robin's Website
Robin's Map
Lunch 11:00 am - 4:45 pm
Dinner Sunday - Thursday 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Dinner Friday & Saturday - 5:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Sunday Brunch Specials
4 comments:
Lumpia is a Philipines dish.
Thanks for pointing that out. The menu at Robin's said "Vietnamese Lumpia," so that's how I labeled them in my post. I suspect that maybe it was meant to be a fusion dish.
Wow, you wrote this in 2007 and here it is 2011 and you just harshed my mellow! I just left Robin's and loved it! We had Pork Osso Bucco that was amazing. And my delicious Salmon Bisque had me searching the internet for a recipe...which brought me to your review.
To be fair, I haven't tried the Asian fusion dishes, so I can't comment on those. But every time I visit Cambria I go to Robin's for their lovely garden, delicious foods and a most relaxing patio.
And one last thing, I don't know who they buy their tomatoes from but I bow to those farmers!
Like the last poster, I just stumbled upon this review and was SHOCKED that you didn't love the Salmon Bisque. I lived in Seattle for years and the Salmon Bisque at Robin's beats anything I ever had in the Pacific Northwest. Next time try one of their tofu dishes or the grilled hearts of romaine with Maytag blue cheese--pure heaven.
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