The Good Knight is a bar/restaurant that opened in a nondescript building on E. 6th Street in August. I’d been hearing that the food was really good and that the place had a cool atmosphere.

The Good: Incredible menu and interesting drinks; sexy curtained booths and candlelight; feels like a speakeasy.

The Bad: Filling water glasses, providing tableware, clearing used plates, and knowledge of the menu was not high on our waiters priority list. Lighting was so dim that we couldn’t clearly see what we were eating.

The Ugly: We brought brownies with us to sample (see PuppyLove blog) and our waiter told us we couldn’t eat them there. We were literally one of four groups patronizing the place for the entire night. It was seriously empty.

I’ll be more specific about what we liked/didn’t like about the experience:

Atmosphere: The Good Night is located on East 6th near Rio Rita. There are bars on the windows and doors. You would miss it if you weren’t looking for it and that’s part of it’s appeal.

We couldn’t even tell it was open until we walked inside and felt our way to a table. There is a bar on one side of the room, two curtained booths on the other, and tables in between. It feels like the kind of spot I’d love to go to during a ski vacation — cozy and dim.

Drinks: I was there with four girlfriends and we took full advantage of the classic cocktail menu. Our waiter, Billy, is also the bartender and manager of the restaurant and he was very helpful in walking us through the ordering process. Jessica had a sore throat and said her hot toddy with whiskey, lemon, honey, cloves and a cinnamon stick made her feel much better.

Food: Excellent menu that evokes the 1950s and the Middle Ages at the same time. I loved everything with the exception of the salad and the fried green tomatoes — they were fine but nothing I’d feel compelled to order again.

I tried the basque soup with roasted butternut squash, white beans, leeks, and sage in a vegetable broth with parsley pesto. It tasted so comforting and delicious that I’d consider it as a very passable substitute for Jewish Chicken Soup or Mexican Caldo to stop the onset of a cold.

We shared the cheese plate served with honeycomb, marcona almonds and grilled country bread. The cheeses were very unique and included a Pont l’Eveque, an ancient variety first made in France during the 13th Century that is rich, soft, and creamy — like brie. The other was Bleu d’Auvergne — a strong blue cheese.

I was very happy with my order of chicken pot pie made with pecan-smoked chicken, potatoes, shitakes and carrots in puff pastry. It was served in an adorable little pot.

Christine was impressed with all the vegetarian options and she really liked the cheese and nut roast with crimini mushrooms, walnut, cashew and gruyere terrine served with smoked tomato sauce and vegetables.

Service: I’m sorry to say that the service was horrible. In doing research for this blog, I learned that it is owned by Randall and Donya Stockton and run by Randall’s brother Billy.

Billy told us that he used to run sound for live music events and I’m wondering if maybe he should go back to that line of work. He seems to have no interest in making sure that his guests have a positive dining experience.

I’d love to go back to The Good Knight and give it another try — maybe I’ll call ahead next time to find out if Randall is working to see if that makes a difference. It’s amazing how important service is to a meal — you can have everything else be right on but if your waiter is ignoring you or doesn’t know the menu, an entire evening can be all but ruined.

We brought our brownie samples over to Flipnotics on Barton Springs and closed out the evening sipping hot chai tea and enjoying each others company and the flavor of the rich and satisfying end to the night.

The Good Knight (not Dark Knight as we all kept calling it) is open Tuesday through Sunday from 4 p.m. – 2 a.m. The kitchen serves from 5 p.m. – midnight.

I’d love to hear from anyone who had a good experience with service at The Good Knight. I know that you are out there — I read your reviews on Yelp!