I wanted to fall in love with this place, but I didn't get the chance to.
I should have known that something was wrong from the moment that we walked in. As soon as we entered, a server looked up at us with a mix of annoyance and exasperation, but told us that we could take a seat. So we did, and as we were trying to figure out why they seemed so annoyed at us I noticed that several tables around were marked 'Reserved'. In fact, I think the table that we were sitting at was the only one in the restaurant which WASN'T reserved. So I figured that could have been the explanation- maybe a large group was coming and they just didn't want to seat other parties. Which would have been fine, and brings me to the crux of this review:
They should have told us, right off the bat, that they were expecting a large party.
But they didn't. So anyways, we looked over the menu and droolage began promptly. Everything sounded amazing, but we decided on a few items to try. I ordered the marrow beans with pork, and my girlfriend ordered a steak, medium rare. I also ordered the escargot appetizer. So far so good, then we waited for our food.
First up they brought us a lovely cup of pea soup with some slices of bread. It was really good! Nice pieces of ham in it, with a great smoky flavor that went really well with the bread. Then our meals came out, and at first glance I was *REALLY* impressed. I have to say, the marrow beans with pork were AMAZING. Absolutely delicious, and I'd order them again in a heartbeat. However, my girlfriend's steak was WOEFULLY undercooked (even at medium rare, there needs to be a bit of brown on it- this one was a seared lump of otherwise good-looking meat). I tried to catch a server's attention to get a little more time on it but by that point the group which they were expecting arrived.
I'm not exaggerating- there were at least 40 elderly tourists shuffling into the restaurant as I stared in openmouthed amazement. WHY DID THEY LET US SIT WHEN THEY KNEW THAT THIS GROUP WAS COMING!!?!?! It wouldn't have been a problem, on a normal night, to be able to flag someone down and say "Hi, would it be possible to just get this cooked a bit longer- it's woefully undercooked" and have that be the end of it. Also, by this time, we were wondering where our escargot appetizer was. So the elderly people shambled their way in, our annoyance level grew, and it was blatantly obvious that the staff just lost all interest in us from that moment forward. Eventually I was able to get a man's attention, so he came over and I asked about the escargot appetizer. He pointed to the bowl of pea soup and told me that that was it. I told him that it was pea soup. He told me that I had ordered pea soup. At that point I knew that it was over, and the magic was gone. I just handed him my credit card and told him to cash us out. I honestly just wanted to get the fuck out of there as quickly as possible.
They really dropped the ball that night. I'm not saying that I would never come back here, but I don't think that I would. I'm sure that their food is amazing, but there's a tiny little vindictive part of me that is capable of holding a grudge and doesn't appreciate being treated in the manner which we experienced that night. I was just ready to be done with the entire experience. read more