tl;dr food was okay but overpriced, ambiance is fine, and service was not great. Stella is trying to be a luxe dining experience, but currently misses the mark on that.
---
We dined as a party of 4 this past Friday evening and were seated around 7:30/7:40-ish. At the time of seating, the restaurant was about 3/4s full.
We were two couples dining, and they split our bill accordingly, which I appreciated. 20% tip is automatically included, which is written on their door when you enter and is also clearly labelled on your bill (separate line item for 20% tip and tip line is labelled as "additional gratuity").
Just as an FYI, we were required to valet our car, which was complimentary. I wasn't expecting to have to valet, so it was lucky that I had cash for a tip. It seems that it is valet only on the weekends (I assume at least Friday and Saturday, unsure about Sunday). Stella doesn't seem to have a website at the moment and I didn't see any additional information about it on their Instagram.
---
Ambiance:
They seem to be going for like an Instagram glam/Vegas-y clubstaurant kind of vibe with lots of black and gold decor. It's not really my vibe, but I'm sure a lot of other people love it.
Volume is medium-level, with most of the sounds being from conversations from other diners. I can't recall if there was music playing, so if there is music, it's not very loud, which I did appreciate.
---
Food (3/5):
For our entrees, we ordered the Truffle Mushroom A5 Wagyu Burger ($28) and the Apple Walnut Salad ($18) with Chicken (+$8) and dressing on the side. The food ranged from 'fine' to 'not great,' which puts this restaurant in the category of "I'd only go back if someone I was dining with really wanted to go" for me.
Objectively, the burger did a fine job as a burger. It wasn't dry or overly salty and I wasn't unhappy eating it. But otherwise, there was nothing special about this burger. The patty didn't have any special flavors or textures. You're definitely paying a premium for a "A5 wagyu burger" but I don't think you're getting a flavor premium.
The salad itself was also fine. The bowl was sizeable and there were a lot of ingredients in it, which made it really nice. However, the chicken was absolutely awful. It was thin, hard, and dry. As someone who poaches chicken breast for meal prep, my bare minimum for chicken isn't even seasoning, just that it's not dry. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT order the chicken add-on for the salad.
Overall, while the burger and the base salad tasted fine, at $28 for the burger and $26 for the salad + chicken, there are several other restaurants in the area that can deliver better food for the same price or less.
---
Service (2/5):
It was hard for me to come up with an aggregate rating for the score because it was such a range, but ultimately, I could not say that it was a good service experience overall.
While our server was friendly, I cannot say that they did their job well. To start, it took an hour for our food to come out. Our server did let us know once that the kitchen was backed up and that our food is still being worked on, but they never checked back in again in the hour we were waiting. Once the food came out, we couldn't even start eating because we didn't have any utensils. We asked our server twice for utensils; once when our food was served and then again when they came to ask us how everything was and the utensils never showed. We had to flag another server in the room for utensils, but then that took awhile and we were unsure if they were coming back, so one of us left to go find utensils. The second server did bring us utensils shortly after that, but our server just completely forgot our utensils; they never came with them at all. Later, after 3 out of 4 of us had finished our food and our plates cleared, the last person was still actively eating -- she probably still had half her pasta in her bowl, fork in hand, and still chewing -- and the server asked if we were ready for the bill. We were so confused that we just sat in silence for a couple beats before I told the server, "I think my friend is still eating?" I can only assume they were eager to turn over our table due to the automatic 20% tip on the bill.
What was above and beyond came from who I assume is the manager and/or owner. They came over to our table to apologize for the wait for our food and if they could buy us a round of drinks to compensate. I thought that was extremely professional and I was impressed by the gesture.
Despite the great hospitality from the manager, it unfortunately doesn't offset the service issues from our server. read more