text: We went to Blue Hound with a group of friends who come together to have a great meal and amazing company nnThe ambiance of the place is very cool The furniture decor and lighting were all extremely well done The bar area was packed and people were enjoying their drinks and some light appetizers The down side in design and construction is that nothing was created to buffer the sound I get it it is Friday night in a trendy restaurant but the acoustics were an assault on my ears and prevented my friends and I from having any conversations unless we were almost yelling at each other nnWe began the meal with drinks and appetizers which were good We had tater tots caramel corn and deviled eggs The tots were very good I really enjoyed the flavor and the accompanying dipping sauce The caramel corn was ok but the spice was a little overwhelming to the point where it was not balancing the sweet at times I could not event really appreciate any of the sweetness Lastly the deviled eggs were well deviled eggs and not as impressive as the deviled eggs I have had at Chelseas Kitchen nnI am glad our waiter recommended the short ribs with the blue cheese grits it was probably the single best dish on their entire menu the rest seemed eh The short rib was absolutely killer it had a sasperilla glaze on it that was amazing and the meat just fell off of the bone I was really happy with my choice as apposed to my dinner mates probably to their annoyance because I was making a lot of sounds as I engulfed my dishnnMy wife had macaroni and cheese in the smallest bowl I have ever seen I get it macaroni and cheese can be extremely rich but it still is macaroni and cheese and you are charging for it so show me a little love Again I have had better at the chain the Yardhouse with truffle oil and it is all that and more for about the same pricennI did not have dessert but that is because nothing excited me on the dessert menu and in the back of my head I was thinking I would stop by Churn on the way home for some ice cream and home made caramel sauce that did not happen but I thought about it a lot nnTrying not to sound like a broken record but service makes or kills a business and I was not impressed by our waiter I know we had some challenges with a few of the dishes and at the end of the meal he acted annoyed with us when sorting out the checks I do not care how large the group is an what mandatory gratuity is imposed on me on the bill but I was almost to the point of having that gratuity taken off because of how annoyed our waiter was acting with the group Again I get it large group lots of tickets but to act that annoyed was not called for nnIt was brought to my attention that this restaurant made the best new places to eat in Phoenix by Phoenix Magazine and I really take issue with their judgement Phoenix Magazine assigning that type of status to this restaurant really calls into question their credibility as a publication Maybe they were dazzled by the trendy atmosphere but I am more about substance than style and Blue Hound does not meet any criteria of being considered the best of anything Blue Hound is not the worst place I have ever been to but it is one of the most mediocre places I have been to I find Phoenix Magazine calling this place one of the new best of places to be offensive to the efforts of other area restaurants much more deserving of that designationnnOverall I was glad that we gave it a go but it is not a place that I would go out of my way to go again My dish was really good REALLY good but if I went again I would wonder what else I might try and from what I saw I do not know if I would be that interested in any of the other offerings