I had pretty high expectations for this place as it came highly recommended. For a $$$ ranked restaurant, you expect everything to be relatively stellar. The view is gorgeous, but once it got dark out all you could really see is the reflection of the dining room.
We got a bottle of chianti, the beef tenderloin crostini, the crispy roasted duckling, the special pan seared swordfish, and the white chocolate mouse cake. While many of the food components were above average, there were things that didn't work well, especially when you mixed in the service. The waitress didn't know anything about the wine list and had to get a coworker to come over. It was fine, but for such a nice place, the staff should all be well versed on the wines and also recommendations. Then throughout the meal, it took way too long for our wines to be refilled. The crostini was very good with a nice balance of textures and flavors. The staff were so inconsistently inattentive and then acted a little rushed unexpectedly . We didn't even finish our appetizer plate (we were using the bread to dip into the yummy aioli) and the waitress just swooped up our plate without asking if we were done.
Continuing on. .. the duckling didn't seem much like a duckling and more like an extra large old duck. It was cooked well though and the skin was very tasty and crisp. Strangely, no one seemed to think that if you serve 2 duck legs, you should provide steak knives. I was really struggling with the butter knife and my hand hurt by the time I was done. Waitress never came by while I was eating to ask for one though. Also, the trimmings did not compliment it well. There was some spinach that got lost in a tasteless tabbouleh. Mango chutney was ok but not great and the currants tasted dry and out of place. No complaints about the swordfish, it was cooked to perfection and it's accompaniments were thoughtfully envisioned. This time though, the wait staff never bothered clearing our plates. My husband's was probably sitting around for 10 minutes until I finished, then both our plates hung around for another five minutes. The dessert was lovely, a creamy mousse that actually tasted like white chocolate and a dense crunchy crust. It was unfortunately plated with one end in an overly sweet pool of raspberry syrup which we didn't much care for.
Finally the strangest thing about the service was how they cleared or served items. I know there isn't consensus, left vs right, always from right whatever, but it should be consistent. I expect this from a nice restaurant. They were super friendly but I felt like they were trained in a cafeteria, ok too harsh, a sports bar. For a $200 bill at the end, you can do better Simon Pearce. read more