We have gone to Pompano Grill a few times and we've had mixed experiences. But after our dinner at…read morePompano Grill last week went from bad to worse, we recommend against eating there. They are inattentive, rude, borderline fraudulent, and they attempt to be intimidating.
As we sat down, our server launched into a long pitch about how the chef will not cook a steak more than medium, and how he - would - cook it blue if that was what we wanted. This was a lengthy sales pitch. I specifically asked if the chef was willing to serve a steak that was cool and red (my definition of blue), and our server confirmed this. So based on that, I ordered steak.
Unfortunately, when the steak arrived, not only was it overcooked, but it was poorly cooked in that it had a ring of about half an inch of totally brown meat, then another quarter inch of light pink, and then starkly transitioned to bright red. This is what happens when you put an ice cold steak into a hot pan.
The steak was definitely not blue, and more like medium rare or medium, given how much brown and pink it had.
I asked our server if this is what the restaurant calls blue, more for future reference - since it was late in the evening and I didn't feel like wasting food, I wasn't going to send it back and ask the kitchen to remake it. The server went back and had a lengthy conversation with someone in the kitchen, and then the manager came out and at first said that I should have ordered it blue. When I said that I had asked for blue, he said, "Okay well that's how we do our blue steaks." I was a bit annoyed by the dishonest sales pitch that our server had made before we ordered, so I might have visibly rolled my eyes. But I wanted to just make the best of it and eat in peace.
Unfortunately, the chef had other ideas. He came up to our table, stood in what he probably intended to be an intimidating pose, and asked - very aggressively - "Is there a problem with the steak?" I said it was cooked rather more than my preference, which was disappointing given the lengthy sales pitch about how this restaurant supposedly did not overcook steaks.
The chef launched into a lecture about how "rare is a temperature" and "the health department has rules" and "you can't get a steak blue while still getting it to the minimum temperature unless you sous vide it or reverse sear, and that takes too much effort." So basically, the chef admitted that this restaurant, which boasts "a passion for craftsmanship and creativity" and supposedly serves Mishima Reserve American Wagyu, puts less effort into a steak than I do when I cook one at home.
Clearly, the chef's intention was to intimidate and humiliate, as well as pull the power move of "I will serve you poorly cooked steak and how dare you not like it."
It was about this time our waiter (who had been insisting this whole time that "We would consider that [brown steak with a thin red stripe in the center] rare"), came over to ask if we wanted to order more wine (which we had been considering). After this treatment, though, my husband told him politely that we would not be ordering any more. A woman who had been sitting with the chef, who we took to be the owner or manager, uttered an audible "Wow," as if it were somehow unusual after a breakdown of relations such as this not to order more. My husband said "'Wow,' what?" in a mild tone? She gave no response.
Kitchen mishaps happen, and sometimes steak ends up overcooked. That's not the end of the world. It's better if a restaurant fixes it, but if they're not going to fix it, they should at least accept that a customer might be dissatisfied, rather than lecture and berate a customer for having the temerity to have an adverse opinion.
In the end, nothing was done either to satisfy us, nor to compensate us for the poor meal (which was quite expensive when tallied up), nor to assure us this would not happen again.
I would advise avoiding this restaurant.
