Please Michelin Gods, TAKE THIS STAR AWAY
212 has so much potential it hurts. I only give 4 stars for the chefs, if this was about service, experience and price-quality, we would be talking about 2 or 3 stars
The two biggest problems
- SERVICE
- WINE PAIRING
The wine pairings are half pour at best. This is not a wine tasting but a pairing (someone needs to alert the staff), the wine pours are maybe 2oz of wine, this is considered "half pour" by nearly all restaurant standards. See attached picture for the red wine that was supposed to accompany my lead course - lasted less than 2 sips, clearly a half pour (which should be half the price). When I asked the waitress for a top off, she responded negatively and literally stopped providing any attention to us for the majority of the night, like a temper tantrum
Service somewhat spirals out of the above, but also general cadence was poorly timed. Baby wine pairings came out 5/10m before the food so you had 1 sip left by the time the plates arrived. After our waitress was asked to increase our pours, service deteriorated to the point of no communication for 20/30minutes at a time. She was evening sending other people to clear our plates due to her tantrum. Many people who arrived after us left before us due to her lack of attention
Now from the bad to the good
The chefs work very hard and produce some amazing dishes. Almost all food is sousvide so there's not a lot of natural kitchen / cooking smell beyond the occasional sear. The lobster was the most tender I've ever had, their amuse bouche were creative and delicious. The oxtail was extremely rich w fall apart texture and loaded w black truffle oh and don't miss the apple desert!!
All in all 212 has the potential, you can tell the chefs have the drive and they are OH SO CLOSE but sadly held back by poor waitstaff and an inability to elevate the guest experience. 212 most certainly DOES NOT raise to level. Perhaps worth a stop in if you're Ok paying premium prices for a mediocre product, but don't raise you expectation to the level of Michelin Man! read more