I feel terrible for the chef at this restaurant. His food is unbelievable, and would have earned a four or five star rating from me if that were the only criteria to judge on. Unfortunately, the poor service completely overshadowed the exquisite cuisine and lost the restaurant all but one star.
As soon as we arrived, we loved the busy atmosphere, the upscale clientele, and the beautiful decor. The well dressed hostess and waiters were a sight for sore eyes. Then our captain waitress came over, and completely ruined the experience. I speak fluent French, but with a small accent, I'm sure. After asking her fir a recommendation off the wine list, and explaining what we would probably eat, she took a big sigh, and in worse English than my French, tried to ask what we would like. I brushed it off and ordered a nice bottle of Puligny-Montrachet, and asked for some water. When she returned to take our food order 15 minutes later, still no bottle of wine or water. Then when our food arrived 10 minutes after that, still no bottle of wine; but I did get the food runner to get us some water. About a half hour after ordering, and 15 minutes into eating our appetizers, the wine finally arrived, giving me the opportunity to taste the wine I had paired with our meal.
The wine went perfectly with my bonbon of Foie Gras. But I only got to enjoy it with the final bite. Our dirty plates then sat in front of us for another 15 minutes as waiters and bussers buzzed around us. Finally, my entree arrived, while our table was still covered in dirty dishes. The runners and bussers scrambled to clear the table for my entree. But where was my fiancée's? It came out about 5 minutes later, when mine was already cold. The runner came out with it and asked the four tables around us if it was theirs before trying to head back to the kitchen with it. Thankfully, I stopped him and let him know it was ours. He rolled his eyes as he dropped it in front of my fiancée.
Again, the quality was amazing, but it was now cold. All of this seemed to be most certainly the fault of our capita in waitress. A middle aged woman that acted with unbelievable entitlement. All of the waitstaff wore impeccable suits and ties. She was the only one in skinny jeans, a trendy blazer, and a ridiculous blouse that was all three sizes too small for her, and evidenced by her pot belly sticking out from her often untucked shirt; which she kept trying to tuck in while talking to guests. It was almost offensive.
But the worst part was her obvious acknowledgement of her mistake. To make up for it, she avoided us like the plague! Whenever I made eye contact she'd look away. If I tried to get her attention, she'd leave the patio area. When I asked another waiter to get her, he returned to say she was unfortunately too busy. Absolutely unacceptable!
The only saving grace was the busser's hardworking attitude and willingness to try to rectify the situation. It was his disposition, and the lovely French family next to is that shared our criticisms of the service the earned back the second star.
Wonderful cuisine, location, decor, and atmosphere. My advice to the chef would be to fire the middle aged female captain that works the patio. She was rude, self-entitled, and offensive to the eyes. Seeing her beer gut was the low point of my French culinary experience. Too bad. read more