this was possibly one of the worst meals I've ever had, and the service was even worse. when we were seated, the manager says "a server will be right with you", 18 minutes went by and we had not even been greeted by our server. We flagged down the manager, who did not get our server, but took our drink, salad and entree order all at the same time. five more minutes went by and then our server appeared! she also took our order. never apologized for our wait, for her absence, nothing. acted like she was superb. our salads took 15 more minutes to come..our drinks did come in the interim of our wait for the salads. my husband ordered a Ceasar salad and I ordered a strawberry arugula salad. they were fine, but nothing spectacular. For the entrees, my husband ordered steak, medium-rare and fries. I ordered steak, medium-well and substituted macaroni and cheese. when the food arrived, his steak was so over cooked, it was hard and the fries were ice cold but barely cooked. My steak was unevenly cooked, and at about a medium temperature. It took quite awhile (at least 10 minutes) for the server to return. I conceded to eat the steak he had been brought bc then at least it was just one steak to have to be fixed. When the server finally came to our table, we explained it to her. she took the plate. about 15 minutes went by. While we were waiting, my husband went to ask who the manager was, as we did not know at this point. the hostess pointed out the managers, who we now realized had been the one who took our order, as we had not been informed of that from the outset. fine, no big deal. as my husband was finding out about managers, the manager brought the steak to the table, dropped it on the table and took off without staying to see if it was cooked probably, or even to my husband's liking. The steak was RAW. not rare. RAW. It had been barely seared on the outside and was still blue (and cold) on the inside. the worst part about all of this poor cookery is that they serve the steaks SLICED! which means they KNEW it was poorly cooked the first time AND that it was raw this time. They sliced it, slid it onto a new plate and slopped some chimichurri on top. Honestly, the chimichurri was the best part of the whole meal. It actually tasted good. Let me get back to the macaroni and cheese. it was nasty. the pasta was overcooked, and the sauce was not only broken/grainy but it had been scorched/burnt. i tried eating it, but it was inedible. So while his steak sat there, still raw, no one and I mean no one came to the table. Another 10 minutes went by. I asked thr hostess if she'd send a manager to our table. she also seemed irritated at the servers, etc. A different manager came to the table and asked what was wrong, and when we showed him the steak, he asked "what can I do to fix this?", which at first was a valiant effort. but at this point, was too-little-too-late. my husband said, honestly nothing. this is the first date night we've had in quite awhile bc of our busy schedules and there were a number of options in the vicinity but we chose here. so the manager says, well,, you won't have to pay for this. my husband said no, we just want to pay for what we ate and our drinks. so the manager leaves the table. we think to get our check. naynay
another 10 minutes goes by. I am fuming by this point. we just want to pay and leave. our server comes to the table and actually asks if we like the food! she had no clue what had happened. the manager had not even told her! We just say no. and tell her what we'd like to pay for. she leaves. several more minutes go by. ANOTHER manager comes over and asks if my husband would like a box to take his RAW steak home. at this point I've had enough and I say, you're the 3rd person we've had to explain this terrible food and service to. we just want the check, for the love. it took another 20 minutes to finally get our check and get out of there. In addition to all of this, the table beside us was having similar "bad service" issues. to the point that they were walking out the door when their food finally arrived, and with no apologies or explanations. I might excuse many things, had the restaurant been packed full and extremely busy, but it was not. there were empty tables all over the restaurant.
Now, I have said all of this because I am a chef. I worked in fine dining for many years. I was a line cook, sous chef, a kitchen manager, running the pass/expediting food. I am a big Todd English fan, and I wanted to experience his pub-style restaurant. But as a chef, I can say, with absolute confidence - people come for the food; they come BACK for the service. The food here was terrible at best, and the service, from the moment we sat down, was the worst I've experienced in a long time. Not only will I never go back, I will tell everyone who will listen about this terrible restaurant. read more