5 Fifty 5

Back in the bad ole days, restaurants located in hotels (even high end hotels) were less than stellar. While they might have an excellent selection at the bar, the food was never up to the sort of standards that a stand alone restaurant with a top notch chef could bring. Wonderfully, those days are far, far behind us now.



In the Marriott hotel on Canal is 5 Fifty 5 which is casual dinning and comfort food. Well, I don't recall my Mom ever putting lobster in her Mac and Cheese but, now that I've tasted Executive Chef Mark Quitney's version, I sure wish she had! My dining companion had the winter greens salad with shredded chicken and ginger/orange vinaigrette which she claimed was delicious and I have to take her word for it.

The service was fast and unobtrusive. Food came quickly and the iced tea was replenished regularly. We arrived at 1pm for lunch and, even though the place closed at 2:00, they let us keep the table so we could finish conducting our business (we were there alone until almost 3pm).