This definitely could have been better. Arrived and ordered calamari, pork belly mac and cheese, and carbonara, as well as half a bottle of Pinot Gris and half a bottle of Malbec. They put in the order and rang us up at the same time, and we paid with a credit card. It immediately took us to the total and asked us for a tip - 15%, 20%, or 22% I think. I was taken aback a bit, being asked for a tip before even sitting down in a restaurant. It is like an assembly line, so after paying for your food and drink, you are instructed to move down the counter to collect your drinks and are given a tall metal token with a number on it to place at your table so servers know where to take the food. Our drinks were brought out to the counter, but my husband, who had ordered a half bottle of Malbec, only got a glass. We told them, and he went back to the entry person, who corrected and adjusted the bill, and he needed to put in his credit card again to correct the order . . . so another $7 was added to his credit card, and in the process, he was asked to tip on the adjustment before the transaction was processed. We then took our wine and glasses to a table, but on the way, I noticed a counter with bins of flatware and a pile of napkins, so I got those for us. We like water with our meal, so we looked around and saw another counter with a water dispenser, glasses, and large bottles we could fill, and so I went and got us water. While dispensing the water in our glasses, I noticed a shelf down below that contained several shakers of salt, pepper, and red chili pepper flakes, which prompted me to consider that if we might want them, we needed to get them for ourselves. At this point, please keep in mind that there are no signs or indicators of any sort that this is all pretty much self-serve; in other words, it would have been nice to know this in advance. And in all honesty, maybe the people at the counter told us as we paid and advanced down the counter, but the restaurant was very loud and noisy and echoed, and the people spoke fast and didn't really enunciate. We were brought our meals fairly quickly, but I asked that we would have liked our calamari before, and they said that we hadn't ordered the calamari and that they could go back and add it, which we declined, so we could enjoy our meals. Our pasta dishes were tasty to a degree, but nothing like what we had expected. I'm always wary of ordering some pasta dishes because so often the pasta is mushy and not al dente. Both of our pasta dishes were overly al dente - mine in particular, it actually crunched when I bit into it. My husband's was so stiff that it couldn't even be twirled around his fork. (picture will be attached) Both of the sauces on our pasta dishes were very scarce, and I compared them with each other, and they seemed to be the same except for a slightly different flavor. There was also a taste of flour in both of the sauces. The bottom line here is that while the food was tasty enough, even though not like we expected, it was not a good value, as the price seemed to be high for us, and the food was subpar. They charge you as you order, requesting a tip at the same time (as well as there is a tip jar to tip the kitchen staff), and yet there is no service at all. And I guess what really insulted me is that when you are finished, you are expected to bus your table to an area in the restaurant in the far corner near the restrooms.
We watched everyone near us busing their own tables before they left, including a family with 3 children and a baby, cleaning their own tables before they left. So, I'm sorry to say that these two senior citizens, who are trying to support local businesses, will not be back. Also, while both of our wines were good, the Malbec was chilled, but maybe that's how it's done in restaurants these days. I'm now glad that they forgot to add the calamari to our order, though the calamari was the main reason that we decided on this restaurant, as it's hard to find good calamari around here. We are recent residents here after living on the Oregon Coast, and are having fun trying all of the eateries available to us now! But here is the bottom line: it wasn't terrible, and I'd say to try it. It might be perfect for someone other than me. We did manage to have a good date night because after 43 years of marriage, we still enjoy each other's company! read more