Fourth Street

4th St. "The Downtown Experience"

123 S. 4th St.
Clarksburg, WV 26301

Lunch: Monday - Friday 11am-3pm

Dinner: Monday - Saturday 5pm-10pm

Nestled on a side street in, where-else? downtown clarksburg, 4th St "The Downtown Experience" may have a bit of a confusing name...(is it just 4th St.? is it the "Downtown Experience?" or both together??) and the menu may be all over the place - sushi, burgers, gyros, filet? But the food and service is spot on.

There are two main sections, the dining room which is quiet and cozy with low lighting, candles, and a quaint view of 4th street outside; and the bar area which is also dark, cozy and inviting. A small stage sits in the middle of the bar area for the Tuesday night live blues musicians.

The place is always very quiet when we've been there during the week, and not much busier on the Saturday evening we vistied, not that I mind - I feel like it's a well kept secret. I'm just puzzled as to why more people aren't coming here to eat instead of all the chain restaurants on Emily Drive?

When we first started coming here, the full menu was available each night, however I was told last time that the full menu is only available now on Friday and Saturday evenings, with the weeknights each featuring a theme...Monday Margaritaville night with Cheeseburgers in paradise, Tuesdays Blues and Sushi, I don't remember Wednesday night but I think Thursday is a steak option? This news was very dissapointing to me, because although as I mentioned, I do think their menu is all over the place, the polar opposite of having such limited choices during the week is not a great idea either. But, off my soap box and onto the dinner table...

4th Street's signature martini consists of raspberry vodka, peach wine, champagne and berries, and I LOVE it! It says fresh raspberries on the menu, but each time I've ordered one, it has been a delightful blend of frozen mixed berries which I'm more than okay with. I may be wrong on this, but I'm thinking these are a mere $5 each which I think is fantastic, just a few streets over this drink would be at least $8.50.

As I mentioned, the menu is varied to say the least, and while in some venues, the wide variety might lead to everything being half-assed, for lack of a better term, each type of dish we have ordered has come out with such freshness and quality that you'd expect to be in a restaurant that specialized in that respective ethnic cuisine.

My husband loves deep fried oysters, and he totes the oyster appetizer as being some of the tastiest he's had....at least outside of Louisiana. While I have no desire to eat oysters in any representation, their remoulade is excellent; spicy, creamy and very flavorful. On our last visit we ordered the Crab Augratin and it was brimming with large lumps of crab, and rivaled crab we have eaten in Alaska!

While we have eaten there several times, apologetically I have not taken my camera with me (I've got to order that uv filter and lens cap today!) so again, you'll have to settle for iPhone pictures...and limited ones at that. Not pictured are the above appetizers, the seafood salad (with a large crab cake and more of that delicious remoulade), the crab cake sandwich, the oyster po'boy - can you tell my husband likes seafood? and lastly, the A la Vodka.

While I won't spend too much time talking about delicious things that you can't see, I do have to mention the A la Vodka. I ordered this because I love vodka sauce and their sauce won the 2009 Italian Heritage Festival Pasta Cookoff, and let me tell you, that is big around these here parts! One bite of the tender pasta and sauce and I could tell you why this was a winner, well really I can't put it into words other than "YUM" so you'll have to just take a leap of faith here and trust me, and order that pasta! Crisp pancetta throughout perfectly cooked pasta, tossed in the perfect, creamy, tangy goodness....I need a minute.

*****

Ahhh, okay...so what did we order that you can see?

My husband ordered a chimichanga, soft. It was enormous! Filled with slow roasted beef and served with a fresh pico de gallo, rice, black beans and fresh leaf lettuce (no bagged iceberg shreds, yay!!) After eating a half bucket of oysters he couldn't manage to finish it all, but from the size of it, he probably couldn't have finished it even without the appetizer. It was refreshing to see such fresh ingredients being used.

My meal was also very fresh and flavorful, and other than ordering pasta on the one occassion, I can't seem to stay away from the Tandori Chicken Platter.

Hot fresh flatbread, grilled marinated chicken breast, saffron rice, fresh leaf lettuce, olives, house-made hummus and tabouleh. Like other entree's here, the platter is huge and I end up taking at least half of it home so I can tell you, it is still good the next day!

Everything is so fresh tasting and looking that it is hard to find any faults with this dish, other than I'd like more veggies in the tabouleh, and maybe twice the amount of hummus but that's probably just because that way I could eat the whole portion with the first sitting, and then have the same amount for the second sitting...

For whatever reason, we've never managed to have dessert at 4th Street, and sadly I can't recall the options but I'm sure it is just as carefully prepared as everything else they serve. I enjoy eating here, it is comfortable and unpretenious. The serving staff is polite and knowledgable, prices are very reasonable and the quality and presentation is outstanding. The first time I went, I truly wasn't expecting the food to be as good as it was, yet "The Downtown Experience" is an enjoyable one.