I REALLLLLY wanted to like this place. We loved OBL and were hoping that some of the charm had carried over to the new owners. If it has, we couldn't find it - at least not in the restaurant.
First off, the reservation - i made reservations online for a party of 4, and included a note that we were celebrating a birthday. We arrived shortly before our reservation time, and after some consternation from the maitre'd, he proceeded to lead us to a table. As we followed him, he turned and said, "Party of 3, right?" The four of us looked at each other and said no. He immediately locks up the brakes and hurries us back to the lobby, where another employee (perhaps the manager?) questions what he is doing - apparently he was going to seat us at a two-top and just shove another chair in? Keep in mind that i made the reservations online, so there should be no confusion about party size. They then scurry to the hostess stand to find a place for us (meanwhile, we can see empty tables all over the place). We finally are seated about 5 minutes later.
Another 5 minutes pass, and we are greeted by our waitperson, who proceeds to tell us that their drink special is a Spanish sparkling wine. When i ask what kind it is, I am condescendingly told that it is a Cava. Yes, I know that Spanish sparkling wine is called cava; I was referring to the label. Sigh.
The food: we ordered calamari as an app, which was decent (several pieces were overcooked, but in their defense, it is hard to get it right). One of our dinner companions tried to order Jack Daniels and Coke, only to be told that the bar was out of JD (more on that later).
The entrees: the birthday girl ordered skirt steak a la carte, cooked medium, but when it came out, the entire center was red. She asked to have it cooked longer, and when the waiter took it back, i could see the chef physically stomp around, glare, and shake his head in disgust from her request (one of the great things about our table, as the hostess pointed out, is that we had a great view of everything - including the kitchen). Needless to say, when it was brought back to the table, it was still red. This might have been tolerable (okay, so maybe the chef is a purist and doesn't believe that beef should be served at anything beyond medium-rare - customers be damned), but then i saw my husband picking apart his hamburger and i was horrified. The entire center of the burger was RAW MEAT. Not pink, not red - COMPLETELY RAW THROUGHOUT. And we're talking ground meat - not prime rib - there was no excuse for this; its not like my husband had ordered raw kibbe at Ali Baba! I grab the waiter and ask him if he thinks that looks like it was cooked "medium" and he begrudgingly says no and offers to have cooked longer. My husband declines, saying he is no longer hungry. Meanwhile, no other comment from the waiter, no visit to the table from the manager. Nothing. The only thing the waiter says WHEN HE BRINGS THE BILL is, "I took the burger off your bill." Wow. Just wow.
Oh - on our way out, we stopped into the attached wine shop and had a delightful conversation with the man running the place - even bought two bottles of NM wine. But here's the kicker - they carry Jack Daniels. I guess it was too much to ask the restaurant to buy a bottle from their own liquor store as a stopgap since they had a customer asking for it?
Bottom line - if we wanted arrogant service, subpar food, and Gordon Ramsey-like behavior at that price, we can get it in Dallas any time. We don't need to travel 600 miles to get it. I would recommend steering clear of this place until they get it together - go to Doc Martins or Lamberts for food and service worthy of the price. read more