it's such a shame how terrible of an experience we had here, the food was honestly solid. however, i can't give this restaurant higher than 3 stars even if the food was perfect given the appalling service and nightmare logistics.
my boyfriend had a 7p reservation on a saturday for a date night. important to note, this reservation was very easy to make, and there were earlier times available that we could have taken. we show up punctually, wait outside for 15 minutes, and are seated at 715p. the owner/chef was waiting on the tables/seating the customers. upon seating us, he tells us that we only have 1 hour for dinner since he had a 10-person reservation at 815p for which he needed our table. we should have just gone somewhere else -- 1 hour for a full sit-down dinner is rushed even for my boyfriend and i who typically eat pretty fast. i think that it's absolutely INSANE that we were given a 1h time limit to eat and leave. it feels unprofessional, disrespectful, and rushed. the owner/chef should not be accommodating more than he is able to. if we had known beforehand, we would have made an earlier reservation or chosen a different time.
scheduling mishap aside, i was personally not a fan of the attitude of the owner/chef. while he was friendly and chatty, it was odd to me that he boasted about how there were 70+ people on his waitlist for that evening... which i struggle to believe is true considering how easily we were able to make a fairly last minute reservation despite there only being 16 seats. not a fan. he also primarily talked to my boyfriend... it always rubs me the wrong way when they assume the male is in charge.
as for the food, it was solid. we had the meatball, the hiramasa crudo, the duck wings, the tagliatelle, and the brick chicken. the meatball was solid, but i would not pay $9 for a singular meatball. the crudo was good, but not extraordinary compared to other hiramasa crudos in the city. i did enjoy the duck wings and the tagliatelle. the duck wings were uniquely seasoned, and the tagliatelle was flavorful and packed with crab salad. i was not a fan of the brick chicken which was dry and uninspiring. the highlight of the night was the dessert, which was the corn brûlée. unfortunately, we did not get to enjoy it at the restaurant and has to take it home. at that point, our unreasonable 1 hour time limit has run out and we were rushed out of the restaurant. far from the ideal experience.
to apologize for the rush, the chef/owner did offer a "few" free things. he gave us the meatball and dessert on the house. we thought the hiramasa was on the house too since it was not an item that we ordered, but when we were paying found that we were charged despite it being not something we asked for. while i would not have paid $18 for a not-super-exciting hiramasa dish, we had no more fight in us. honestly, the whole debacle was kind of ridiculous. i still can't believe a restaurant would be so unprofessional and chaotic, clearly the owner/chef is incapable of managing reservations.
due to the rush, the whole dinner was not a pleasant experience. we didn't get to properly enjoy the food as the chef/owner was rushing us with every dish. it was clear that the kitchen was feeling the pressure too with the high turnover rate. we could hear the chef/owner barking orders in the kitchen, it felt like we were caught in the middle of an episode of the bear. didn't hate the chaos, it was kind of entertaining, but it didn't feel appropriate for the environment. it's such a shame i can't recommend this restaurant to anyone due to the owner's incompetence at scheduling, but the food here really is pretty good. i would consider coming back if they can demonstrate better professionalism and improve upon their ability at managing reservations. read more