A group of us decided to have dinner at the downstairs uva bar of Catal as we hadn't eaten there since the recent menu change, and there were a few things that some of us wanted to try.  When we got there at about 6:30, we were told that the wait for indoor seating was about half an hour, but that there was immediate outdoor seating.  None of us had sat outside before, and since it wasn't that cold a night, and there were heaters set up outside, we decided to go with the outdoor seating.  Most of us ended up having our dinner with our jackets still on, and one person who didn't have a jacket was a bit chilly even with the heaters, but I can definitely see how pleasant it is to sit outside in comfortable weather.

My husband and I decided to start by splitting the shrimp and pork rolls, which we really liked.  The outside was very crunchy, and the peanut sauce gave it an extra flavor.  Another person who ended up having the rolls for dinner enjoyed them as well.  For my main course, I decided to have the cheeseburger.  It is a bit more expensive than your normal restaurant cheeseburger, but I think it's very much worth it as the meat is very good quality and you get a sizable patty, and I liked the freshness of the accompanying lettuce and tomato.  By the time I put the entire cheeseburger together, it was actually quite high, so the group laughed at me as I tried to figure out a way to eat the higher-than-normal cheeseburger.  The cheeseburger is also accompanied by a generous serving of french fries.

This season, a pastrami sandwich has been added to the menu, and two of the people ordered that and enjoyed it very much.  If I have a chance to go back while it's still on the menu, I'll probably try that as I like pastrami.  Another person in our group wanted the caesar salad, but the size of the salad was more than she wanted.  On our previous visit, one of the people had ordered the salad, so we told her how generous the portion was.  When she ordered, she told the waitress that she really only wanted an appetizer-sized portion of the caesar salad, and the waitress said they had no problem accommodating that.  When they brought the salad, she was happy with the size and pricing of what she was served and enjoyed the salad as well.

One thing to note that we didn't until after the bill arrived - non-soda drinks can be fairly expensive there.  One of the people in our group ordered an alcoholic drink which ended up being almost the price of the cheeseburger, and another person ordered a hot chocolate, which he said he really enjoyed, but which we thought was a bit overpriced at $4.  The drink menu doesn't necessarily list prices, so if that's a concern, it might be best to ask about the price before ordering.

One of the things I really enjoyed about the ambience of sitting outside is the music that is played.  I've walked by the outdoor seating area many times and often enjoyed the snippets of music I've heard, but this is the first time I'd had a chance to listen to it for any length of time.  While there were some songs that none of us knew, there were also a number of "blast to the past" songs that we enjoyed, and we ended up playing "name that tune" and "name that artist" during some of those songs.  Gotta love a place where you can hear The Pointer Sisters, KC and the Sunshine Band and Thelma Houston, all within a 20 minute period!

The meal was just as good as other other we've had at Catal, either upstairs or downstairs, and the waitress was very friendly.  I would definitely recommend the outdoor seating when the weather permits, and I think it would be lovely to sit outside in late spring or early summer.