Made a reservation for a late Friday evening due to a late flight in. I asked up front if this would be a problem and was not told anything. Asked again before sitting down and was told they would serve us. Not the friendliest greeting, I should say.

There were other diners who had just arrived so we did not feel too bad coming in 15 minutes before their kitchen closing. That's when things got less pleasant. I don't think anyone told the wait staff we were there, so we waited over ten minutes before someone came remotely close to us, while four bus-people cleared tables. The waiter seemed surprised to see us, almost apolegetic, but he was nice and picked it up from there. He turned down the blaring TV behind me which clashed with the cheesy digital-elevator music playing in the background. For some weird reason, all four occupied tables were next to each other, and directly behind the bar. Weird, and extremely aggravating atmosphere.

My wife ordered the fish 'n chips daily special (that's what got us in there) and I ordered the lamb tangine. Fish and chips were light but rather tasteless and bland. The cilantro tartar sauce was more like thick green milk, nothing to write home about. Chips were like a cross between a very thick fry and a baked potato. The lamb tangine with apricot was OK, but a little dry and lacking flavour. Morroccan dishes are usually aromatic with fruit infused taste. Not so in this Black Horse Grill version. I counted one apricot.

I often read reviews discussing the " restaurant experience." In my humble opinion, this place focused too much on the "experience", and too little on the food. There was this "too-cool-for-school" atmosphere exhumed by the space and the older-crowd-trying-to-be-younger crowd. Too much slick for my taste. The loud, digital easy-listening music was like screeching in my ears, especially with the post-game basketball coverage blaring in the background. All this may have been smoothed over with better food, but alas, it was not to be. To me, this is an example of a large company owning many restaurants. Even with the help of an accomplished chef, a restaurant needs to infuse soul and care into its food for it to be good. Otherwise, it is just another place to "grab" some food for the purpose of filling your stomach. Back Horse Grill may be a nice business, but it is not a nice restaurant.

p.s. maybe a sign of things to come was when the valet attendant outside offered to park our car, AFTER we parked (30 ft away, no joke) and entered the restaurant. He was just a lad and should not be held responsible, but it was funny.