Four of us, my wife and I, and another couple had dinner here last night (a Tuesday) before going to see Riverdance across the street. It was our first visit. Thankfully, I had made reservations because no walk-ins were allowed. Probably because of the event, and they were full, I would guess. As soon as we entered, we were greeted with a smile and bubbly personality by Sarah, who took us to our seats. I had requested something near a window, and we got a perfect seat in the corner with two windows. Kudos, Sarah!
From here, our experience is mostly great, but there are some things lacking, thus the 4 instead of 5 stars.
First, the good. The food. Just... Wow... Here's a breakdown of what we had:
Appetizers:
* We were immediately brought a complimentary small plate of assorted olives with pickles. Not an amuse-bouche but nice and appreciated. The plate was emptied pretty quickly they were so good. We wondered later in the night why we didn't ask for more.
* Warm sourdough bread served with our appetizers.
* Salt & Pepper Fried Calamari - Even thr aioli that it comes with was also finish. 'Nuff said.
* Bacon-Wrapped Jumbo Shrimp - 4 on a plate, giving us each a large, smokey, extremely delicious shrimp wrapped in bacon.
Main Courses:
I had a medium-Rare NY Strip - it was cooked perfectly and full of flavor. I didn't use (or need) the sauce that was included (you can choose from one of several). I tried it on 1 piece of steak, but it only covered the deliciousness of the beef. For my sides, I had the caramelized brussels and bacon and the creamed spinach. The spinach was good, but the sprouts were AWESOME.
My wife had the seared scallop risotto. I was fortunate enough to have a few bites and agreed with her that it was divine. It was perfectly creamy, not too thick, and just past al dente. YUMMY
One of our friends had the Cajun blackened rib eye medium-rare. I had a bite, then forced him to cut me some more. I'm getting that on my next visit. It melts in your mouth and is the best I've ever had. Even better than mine (and I've never said that before).
His wife had the blackened salmon and said she loved it. She's not a big eater, but the piece of fish was a good size, and there was nothing left of it when she finished, so... It must have been good.
For dessert, my friend and I each had the cheesecake with caramel sauce, and my wife had the crème brûlée. Her dessert was lovely, but the cheesecake and caramel, now that was so good it should be illegal. The cheesecake was oh so creamy, and that caramel was addictive. I'm absolutely getting that again on my next visit.
Drinks were a bottle of wine, an old fashioned, and a Long Island ice tea. Here is where we start to lose perfection. Both drinks were watery. In the photos, you can see the ice the bartender used was thin, so it melted really fast, watering down the cocktails.
The wine was fine, but that leads to the problem we had with service. I'll just list out some of the things.
1. Our waitress came around so rarely that our bottle of wine was empty, and we still hadn't seen her in a while. We would have liked to have had a 2nd bottle.
2. My wife's water glass was never refilled. I just gave her mine.
3. I accidentally knocked my dinner fork off the table. I told a waiter who picked it up and said "Well you still have that one, so you're OK, right?" (Looking at my used salad fork) and left.
4. The empty olive plate stayed on our table until after we finished our appetizers.
5. The waitress brought us a display of steak knives just before our entrees were served and asked us to take one. My knife was so dull it literally could not cut my steak. She brought a 2nd still unusably dull. I ended up using my butter knife to cut my steak because it was the sharpest of the three.
6. The waitress came and took my plate with my used salad fork right before our entrées we served leaving me forkless. We were talk8ng when it happened and didn't notice. When our entrées were delivered, no fork was provided, so I used my friends salad fork that had remained unused.
7. I had coffee with my dessert and it was Luke warm. I didn't ask for a replacement because we never saw our waitress again until we got the check.
I do want to end this on a positive note, though. Christopher, the owner, took care to visit the guests. I briefly told him of the above issues (I was using my butter knife to cut my steak at that time). We also told him how excellent his food was.
Overall, I only deducted one star because of the poor service and defective cutlery. The reason is that Sarah was so awesome when she greeted us, the food was fantastic, and the owner took the time to visit us (we did not ask for him).
We are already discussing when we will return. It will be this or next month at the latest. read more