Savannah's Steak and Seafood

Savannah's Steak and Seafood and the Augusta Pines Grill Room are the same place--the bar and more formal eatery at the Augusta Pines Country Club.  The club is private but Savannah's is open to the public.  I've given it a fairly extensive review because they have almost no social media presence at all, and yet it's been here awhile and we have friends that have gone there to eat.

The atmosphere is very much old-school country club--they have a replica of one of the bridges at Augusta National in the lobby.  The furniture is formal and the woodwork is dark.  But the service atmosphere is laid back.  We came on a quiet Saturday evening and were told to just sit anywhere.  There are only a few tables near the bar but it was not crowded, just a few regulars.

The menu has a variety of items from appetizers through sandwiches to some higher end entrees.  We went in for a Father's Day dinner and got items from across the board.  They had avocado toast on the menu, and that's such a thing now we had to have it, along with some southwest eggrolls.  The avocado toast was pretty much that--ciabatta crostinis with a generous amount of guacamole, with a little pico garnish.  The eggrolls were store bought but had a good sauce with them.

My older daughter had a "build your own flatbread" from the lighter menu.  This is a thin crust pizza.  It was a pretty good pizza, with a somewhat fancier price for the name.

My other daughter had the fried shrimp with onion rings and hush puppies.  The shrimp were breaded in a cornbread batter.  The batter was crisp but not too flavorful.  The shrimp were just a bit squishy but OK.  Hush puppies were a bit underdone.  The rings were pretty on target though.

My wife got the crown of the menu, an 8 oz filet.  It was seasoned with garlic steak butter.  Nice and tender, didn't need a steak knife to cut it, which was fortunate because one was not offered.  The garlic was pretty overwhelming, though, so one couldn't really taste the meat.  Our entrees came with sauteed vegetables, which were tasty except for the clashing packaged carrots.  She had mashed potatoes, which were that and nothing more.  No skins, even, and no condiments (butter, sour cream, etc) were offered.

I had the Blackened Redfish Pontchartrain.  The fish itself was done pretty well, maybe a touch over, but good.  The sauce was kind of disappointing. Very little crawfish (out of season here, but I am not sure they use fresh anyway), and the flavor was ok but lacking something, I'm not sure what.  The dirty rice had decent flavor but a lot of very dry spots.

They don't have a dessert menu but they did have a cheesecake and a chocolate mousse cake, both drizzled with chocolate and raspberry sauce.  They were store bought, but the chocolate mousse cake had good creamy mousse.

The place accommodates families, we had one next to us with a baby in a high chair.  I couldn't recommend it for fine dining, they are overpriced for packaged food, but we had some evidence that they could do the less ambitious items well.  I could definitely see having a business lunch with a drink and a sandwich there, and being pretty happy.  It would be a generic beer though, they haven't gone to any effort to have craft or local beers available.

Overall, I got the impression of a very fancy place that has seen somewhat better days.  It's very clean and functional, and the staff remembered regulars, but at this point the clubhouse will neither sell nor detract from the course.