Critic Roundup: No Cliches At Southern Efficiency

This week in restaurant news, Washington Post restaurant critic Tom Sietsema reviews Southern Efficiency, where he says there are no cliches.

"Pimento cheese. Shot of Belle Meade. And the Tennessee bourbon goes down, not unpleasantly, like liquid splinters of wood," he says.

In San Francisco, Sabrosa is lively but noisy, according to San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer.

"When the place is full and fueled by tequila, the noise practically blows the needle off my decibel meter; you can imagine what it does to eardrums," Bauer says. "At that point no amount of savvy cooking or distraction from intense chile heat can compete."

In New York, New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells reviews The Peacock and The Shakespeare, where he says the food is "appealing" but the setting is "less so."

"This was particularly true in The Shakespeare, where in the early evening packs of beer drinkers can crowd out those of us who are there to find out if the shepherd's pie made by Mr. Aikens is better than the mound of ruined groceries that went by the same name in our mothers' kitchens," Wells says.

Restaurant Critic Roundup: 4/2/2014

Click here for The Daily Meal's "Top Chefs Review — and Rate — America's Food Critics."

Haley Willard is The Daily Meal's assistant editor. Follow her on Twitter at @haleywillrd.