I went in a couple of months ago, on a Saturday night. I walked in, no hostess or staff at the front, so I walked into the bar area, where the bartender asked if I needed something, I asked her if they where still open, she turned around and looked at the clock, which said 8:50, (they are open til 10), and she said "I guess so".
I sat at a table in the bar, the only other people in there was a table of 3. I am assuming they where all employees, because the bartender was sitting with them, and they where all loudly talking about how horrible this place was to work. The bartender brought me a menu and asked if I would like a drink. Since I did not have a wine list, I asked for a glass of chardonnay. And I ordered at that time, scallops au gratin. She brought my wine, and when I went to take a drink, it smelled so strongly of rum. I do not know if the glass was dirty, but it was so strong, I barely took one sip, the wine tasted terrible, so I did not take another sip.
The salad was actually pretty good, but that was it. The bartender was able to stop eating her own meal, and get up from her table long enough to bring my entree and set it on the table, not asking if I needed anything else. Now, I know this is Montana, and I do not expect fresh, top of the line scallops, but oh my goodness, when I say this dish was bad, I mean terrible. The pasta was over cooked, and the sauce was awful. It was worse than canned alfredo sauce. It was soupy, and flavorless. I only found that out after I was able to pry my way through about a solid inch of melted cheese. And I am a huge fan of melted cheese, probably in unhealthy amounts, but this was not good. How do you mess up melted cheese?! The scallops where tiny and chewy. Again, not expecting fresh, but at least edible. I had one, and tried to eat another, but had to spit it out. There where also mushrooms in the past. Great! I LOVE mushrooms..... NOPE. I have to assume they where canned. A long time ago. I was able to eat a few slices of bread with some of the mediocre melted cheese on it, but for the size of the dish, it barley looked like I touched it. It was terrible.
Meanwhile, the bartender and the table of disgruntled employees are having a great time in the corner. Drinking, talking loudly about customers and coworkers. A guy came in and was sweeping up, (9:10ish) no big deal, if its a slow evening and close to closing time. He asked the bartender if she was going to do her back bar work and clean up, to which she replied: "Um, do you see what the hell is going on here?" as she points to me. I am assuming she was trying to convey that she couldn't do her shift duties because I was being such a terrible inconvenience. Even though, other than bringing my order to my table did not return once to check if everything was ok. I took my credit card out and set it on the edge of the table, making eye contact with her, signaling I was ready to leave. She turned around and continued with her meal, and conversation. So I waited another 10 minutes, until she was done eating, while she was carrying her plate back to the kitchen she passed me and I asked for my check. When she came back, she brought my check, and asked if I wanted a to-go box, since I barely touched my meal. I told her no, and she insisted that I take it. I reiterated that I did not want to, and she did ask if there was something wrong with it. I told her I would just like to pay and leave. I am not one to raise hell at a restaurant. She did take some off of my check, and said it seemed like I didn't enjoy it. So I will give her that. But she also never came over to check on me after I got my food, she never acknowledged the full glass of wine, and she was obviously annoyed that I was there at all.
I do not recommend that anyone eat here. The concept is great, but the execution is dismal. If you want to charge $20+ a plate, have fresh produce at least in your dishes. The menu items sound fantastic, but when executed with sub-par ingredients it results in a less than satisfactory dish. Maybe a revamping, and new staff would turn this place around, but I won't go back. read more