Tl;dr - We just dined here tonight and my main thought walking away was that this place feels destined for greatness. Please go!
We got nearly everything from the menu, off the top of my head: the fried bread, oysters, hamachi crudo, beef carpaccio, rice rolls, queen's oyster mushroom, risotto, charred rice, branzino, pig trotters, and both desserts (a black bean mousse deal and a fruit pavlova). The mushrooms were a real standout: perfect texture, balanced sweetness, excellently cooked in butter. The hamachi crudo had an interesting sorbet pairing that combined the crudo's saltiness with some acid and sugar. If it were possible to just have a bowl of the black bean dessert I would've had it to go.
If I had to pick nits, the branzino's presentation (deboned, on a plate topped with confit (?) scallions and fried shallots) was a little plain compared to all the other stellar arrangements. On the flip side, I liked that the plate was flanked by a trio of sauces that represents Vietnamese cuisine in the north (onsen egg fish sauce), south (sambal), and by this restaurant (chimichurri). We also thought the risotto didn't taste quite on the same level as the other dishes, but as a mostly-vegetarian I understand the levers are a little limited.
I also had their version of a martini and it was fantastic. I'd love for vermouth blanc to take off!
Service was excellent, we all appreciated that, as they took our drink orders, it was already being communicated to the bar via some handheld device. Our server was also kind enough to formally hand us off to the next person when his shift ended.
Ambiance: the outdoor seating looks excellent, but we sat in the middle as a party of six. One compliment I heard was that, in the space's previous iteration, the place we sat was usually blinded by the Sun's reflection from across the street, but whoever designed Ramie evidently added solar shades to blunt the effect. Nice!
Last but not least, yes the place is firmly not on the cheap side, but if you've read this far into the review, it's clear I think it's worth it! read more