First visit after a glowing recommendation. Unfortunately, it will be our last visit. In summary the service, food, and value were well below minimal expectations. We were perhaps the 2nd diners arriving soon after opening on a Saturday afternoon. After explaining to the server we'd never been there before and needed some time to look over the menu, she showed up what seemed like every 30 seconds until we'd ordered drinks, appetizers, and entrees. Not sure of the rush, other than to get back to the rest of the staff standing in front of the kitchen to continue whatever conversations were going on with the staff.
Ordered 2 'Dirty Martini's' that were delivered by the bartender. A few sips in and realized there's no 'Dirty' in the Dirty Martini. With our sever nowhere to be seen we went to the bar directly and were informed the order was not for a dirty martini. Bartender offered to make new drink, but we were fine and just took a glass of brine to add to what we had. Walked right by the gaggle of servers (ours included) with the brine and not word or asking if everything was ok, nothing to interrupt what we verified as staff gossip.
Food is delivered by a runner and literally 20 seconds later with our first bite in our mouth, our server appears to ask 'how's everything tasting?'. Really? We can't answer as our mouths are full and finally say "our first bite" with a reply to the effect of 'OK, let me know if you need anything". Again, really?
My wife ordered the Shrimp Santorini (our friend recommended) and it resembled an assembled dish with no creativity, little flavor, and a massive disappointment. Literally looked like angel hair pasta that was over cooked with boiled shrimp on top. No grilling, sauteing no nothing to the shrimp. Literally they could have been pulled out of a frozen Costo bag, dropped in some hot water and thrown on top. I would challenge you to convince me there was any effort or skill used to put that dish together.
I ordered the Lasagna. I generally expect lasagna to have some structure to it but the lasagna was flat, and not even warm in the center (at least it wasn't cold/frozen). The marinara had no substance and came across as a quickly assembled tomato base, again following a theme, little flavor. Very disappointing.
Desserts looked good (we're slow learners) and the peanut butter pie noted that it was light & fluffy, and an 'award winner' so we thought that would be our best shot of some redemption. When asking the sever if it's made in house the answer was "I dunnnnnooooo, but it's an award winner". Got it. Sums up the entire experience. We asked the same question to the runner who delivered the pie and at least he could respond to the effect that it's brought in from an outside party. While the peanut butter pie wasn't light & fluffy it was good and we definitely enjoyed it.
Interesting at the end when our server brought the bill she asked how everything was and my wife responded, "it was ok". Didn't even phase the server as she dropped the check and returned to the gaggle of staff in front of the kitchen. Interesting that we saw several other servers going back and forth to tables, delivering food, and checking with diners. Ours seemed to have other priorities, and clearly, we weren't one of them.
Overall, truly a disappointment. Clearly, they have been successful, and I wish everyone success, but it won't be on my dime again. read more