When Ann Arbor Restaurant Week rolled around, my friends and I decided to take advantage of the situation and grab a ten person reservation at Real Seafood for lunch.

To be honest, I have a bit of a bias against restaurants owned by Mainstreet Ventures, as I feel that they tend to be mediocre and overpriced. However, if there is any a time to eat at them, Ann Arbor Restaurant Week was definitely it-  $12.00 is a pretty low price to pay for a 3-course meal made with quality ingredients.

The soup I got was a delicious New England clam chowder with soft fresh clams. It had a wonderful texture, which was surprisingly light for a cream-based soup (then again, as a poor college student, anything not out of a Campbell’s soup can is a nice change). For the entree, I had to choose between a grilled salmon dish and a farfalle (bow-tie) pasta. I tried both out, and they proved satisfactory. The salmon was delicately seasoned and cooked well. The farfalle pasta definitely had a stronger taste with a pretty pungent, creamy sauce of blue cheese and bacon. Dried cherries added a sweetness to the pasta that counterbalanced the sauce. If I was more of a blue cheese fan, I would have been all over the dish, but for me it was a little too strong. I thought the dessert was the high-point of the meal. The pumpkin torte with fresh whipped cream satisfied my sugar cravings perfectly. My friend described it as a “mixture between a pumpkin pie and an apple crumble”.

Overall, the meal was pretty good and worth the price. The servers handled our young and rowdy ten-person party with finesse, and all the food came out in a timely manner.