Took my daughter to the Arboretum location for her birthday dinner. I had made reservations ahead…read moreof time, mentioned it was for a birthday, the person on the phone acknowledged & said they did something special for birthdays.
Day of, we arrived 10-15 min ahead of the reservation, and were seated immediately.
Out server's name began with an O. I won't say his actual name, but I would imagine there aren't many servers that began with O, and you can connect the dots if you go there.
He appeared soon enough, gave us menus, returned appropriately, gave us time to look at options, etc.
As the meal evolved, both of us noticed he would come by, but only to take the order or clear a plate. Through three courses, not once did he ask about the meal, the dishes, how things were, was everything on par or solid, etc. He was only an order taker and plate remover. My daughter is currently a server at a nice establishment in town, and I worked as a fine dining server back in the day. We both noticed this, and it was a distinct detractor to an otherwise overall good meal.
Food: we got four appetizers, two entrees, two desserts. Apps were: arancini, meatballs, butter lettuce salad, and truffle Parmesan chips off their happy hour menu.
The arancini is a Top 5 All-Time Appetizer. Delicate, savory, wonderfully delicious, with a great presentation - solid A-plus.
I gave the meatballs a B. The taste was okay/ pretty-good. They were not overcooked, but were so dense they were a bit difficult to cut. They were served in a red sauce with cheese, which I hoped would elevate the overall dish, but the sauce lacked distinct Italian seasoning of any sort (garlic? oregano? thyme? Italian seasoning blend?) Not at all bad or subpar, simply expected more as many Italian places produce a Nonna-quality meatball with a memorable sauce. Not so here - B rating.
Butter Lettuce Salad was exquisite. Delicate soft lettuce, perfect ingredient accompaniments, and a light but wonderful champagne vinaigrette dressing. Very very good.
Truffle Parm Chips from HH menu were very good, and only $2 during HH. Enjoyed them!
Entrees: I got the Mushroom Manicotti with Almond Pesto Cream Sauce. Outstanding. A very tasty dish, wonderful sauce. A-plus.
Daughter had the Roasted Garlic and Ricotta Ravioli. Solid - an A rating. Both pastas were quite good, the Manicotti holding the edge and higher rating.
Desserts:
I got the Cherry Chocolate Bundt Cake, daughter ordered the Cheesecake. I was wondering if they would either supplement or replace her order with a special birthday dessert, or simply put a candle on the cheesecake.
They did nothing, even though they had made a note we were coming for a birthday, and made a point to say they "do something for birthdays" (didn't elaborate, but said they do). It wasn't the biggest of deals, it simply would have been nice to follow through on it.
Cheeeecake had a Biscoff crumb base, the cheesecake, a pistachio topping, and a raspberry coulis on the plate. It all worked together well, and was very enjoyable.
The Cherry Chocolate Bundt Cake was, unfortunately, a complete flop. D or even an F. It was **extremely** dry. It had two small cherries which had a tiny bit of sauce on them, but very little - which didn't help with the starkly dry cake. The description also says it had cherry liqueur. There was no cherry liqueur on the cake, nor on the tiny amount of sauce on the two small cherries, and no hint of any liqueur in the cake itself. I don't know if Juliet staff is large enough to have a dedicated Pastry or Dessert Chef, but if so they completely dropped the ball by letting that dessert leave the kitchen - much less charging for it.
Since our server "O" was only clearing plates & not asking how anything was, I didn't proactively bring up the cake. I had cut a portion of the cake off and put it off to the side. Had he asked, I was ready to say "I've cut an untouched portion off to the side. Have your dessert chef/staff taste this, and ask them if they should have sent this out to the floor." He didn't ask, so I accordingly refrained.
Overall, the food was largely in the A range (6 out of 8 dishes). Meatballs a B, and the chocolate cake an embarrassment & disaster.
Food overall was 4.5 out of 5. Detractors were (1) nothing done for the birthday meal, and (2) a server who only took the order and cleared plates. No brief conversation(s), no light small talk, no checking-in on courses, dishes, or restaurant experience.
Food largely was great. A few hiccups to the overall evening. Arancini and mushroom manicotti the unequivocal stars. If we return we'll look to get a different server. Earnestly do wish him the best, and hope he steps up his game & starts delivering the overall experience mgmt surely wishes to be had by patrons.