I'm not one to get aggressively vocal about subpar dining experiences, but this was truly awful. The food was flat out bad, overpriced, and the service was slow and inattentive.
We arrived a few minutes early for our reservation and were promptly seated upstairs. The hostess was kind. It took about 10 minutes before anyone came to get our drink order, and it took about 15 more minutes to get drinks. All of that was fine. When the server brought our drinks, she then took our entire food order... and that was the last time we saw her until we asked for our check.
For a starter, I was excited to try the whipped burrata because the flavor combination sounded delicious, but the proportions were completely off, and it ended up being bland. I normally love a burrata centric appetizer, so I was disappointed. That being said, it looked pretty and I was still optimistic about my upcoming entrée.
The main courses took an exceptionally long time to come out, and because there was no complementary bread or anything like that, we ate the bland burrata with a spoon. Why with a spoon? The burrata only came with a few slivers of hard bread as a conduit to consume it, but we were extremely hungry so we ate it anyway. I was going to ask for some more bread slivers, but as I said, I never saw our server again until the very end, and nobody ever checked on us a single time.
We ran out of the drinks our server had brought us before some harried food runners dropped off our entrees, and we were never asked if we would like another, and we were unsuccessful at every attempt to flag someone down.
And the food. It was so, so bad.
I ordered the steak medium rare. It came out almost well done. It was not only way overcooked, but the outside was completely burnt and tasted that way. This was not a pleasant char. I've had a burnt steak before that was redeemed by the delicious flavor of the interior meat, but this steak itself had zero flavor. It was supposedly marinated, but it was the most bland steak I have ever been served in a restaurant setting. They served it with a bitter chimichurri, and the combination was atrocious.
I haven't sent back a meal in years, but this was one that should have never made it out of the kitchen. For $40, it should at minimum be edible. I had one of the pre-sliced cuts, my companions tried one slice to verify, and we all waited for someone to come back so we could send it back. They never came back. Not our server, not a manager, not even a food runner.
My husband got the bolognese. The noodles were drenched in olive oil, and once again, the meat sauce was flavorless. It tasted like they mixed unsalted ketchup with rinsed hamburger meat and called it a day. While I don't doubt that the fettuccine noodles were housemade as the menu stated, there is no logical sense that it would've been so slimy if it was freshly made, which is what most people assume when a house made pasta is on the menu. I don't know if they only make it once a week or if somebody was cutting corners today, but it was so gross. How in the world do you mess up bolognese that badly? I honestly don't understand.
When our server finally appeared 30 minutes later, we were beyond ready to leave. At that point, I just wanted to pay and forget this place existed. It was far past the appropriate time of asking for something else instead. We asked for our check and declined her offer of to-go boxes.
The server pointedly looked at our mostly uneaten food and asked if anything was wrong. I told her plainly that it was not good... and then she offered us a complimentary dessert to make up for it. No thanks.
The positive parts: One of our companions got the friend chicken and liked it (though the mashed potatoes were also fairly bland... like seriously, salt is your friend, stop excluding it from the convo) and the fries that came with the steak were actually seasoned very well. Someone got the pasta that was pesto drenched, and the pesto was good... which based on the rest of the meal makes me think it was probably from a jar. I don't know that for sure, obviously, but I don't understand why that was edible when the rest was so bad.
We ordered four entrees, two cocktails, two mocktails, and our total was over $200 before tip. The audacity lol
For the record, I don't blame this awful experience on the waitstaff. They appeared to only have one server working the entire room we were in. She was kind and I'm sure if she had time to check in on us, she would've tried to get our food order fixed. But it is what it is.
There are better options around that same pricepoint in the area, and if you're only in town for a short while, I would pick another one of them. Like literally any other one. read more