For those that like to cut to the chase I will say this location has really wonderful people with great attitudes working there. It's half nightclub half restaurant inside but very upscale design. They do have a patio which is for the most part closed in...that part just seemed cramped and the cast iron chairs were quite bulky and awkward to even move a few inches around on the turf just to stand up and sit down.
If I were to go back, I'd order drinks and appetizers only as if it was a tapas place. The appetizers we had were really great. And Felix is about the nicest and attentive lead server I've had. Was able to meet Eric who I believe is the general manager and had seen another review. At least tells me they are listening and taking feedback. He welcomed me back and said he hoped they can do better this time. I will give feedback on the steak we ordered later in the review.
It was my 50th birthday and we had a fun group of friends with us. Reservations were easy to make and we had to sit outside as their inside tables can't fit more than six I think we were told. It was a very beautiful evening and overall we had a really great time. The vibe this evening was very fun as there were several groups of friends at tables around us.
They do have an iPad "sommelier" which is supposed to help guide you through the wine list and even make suggestions. It kept giving me white wine suggestions even though I'm a die-hard red wine drinker....LOL...but It's an interesting exercise to scroll through it and answer the prompts. I did not find any Pinot noirs that I liked though they had a decent selection. A few minutes later Felix came back with a glass of red wine that suited me just fine and I am grateful for the accommodation. I believe he said it was Mohua or something along those lines.
The appetizers we ordered and shared with each other were the Akaushi sliders, charcuterie and burrata board, and a shushito and lump crab dip. The sliders were served on Kings Hawaiian bread and as a native of Hawaii I can say they were put to good use. You get three of them and I thought they were fantastic and at $14 I think a great price. The burrata cheese dominates the board and the Italian cuts over the board which is interesting. Marinated olives, grain mustard, and pesto all tasty. I think a great addition to this board might be some local honey/honeycomb personally. Overall the board is ok at $29. Shishito peppers, artichokes and Parmesan made for a good dip and who doesn't like a good piece of naan (dip is $22).
My wife got a wedge salad ($14) and the other wives shared it with her and it never got to the men's side of the table so I can assume it was good.
I think if we had stopped there we would have been fine, but I decided I wanted to try some of the nicer meals they have and ordered the 14-ounce boneless ribeye ($54) and a side of lobster Mac ($16). They do have some interesting add-ons you can have with your steak such as crab, blue cheese, and bone marrow, pouire. We tried the blue cheese ($5).
It's really here where we had the biggest issue of the night which was a large piece of gristle on one end. The ribeye also came out a smidge past mid-rare. Not bad enough to really complain and I'm not one who causes a fuss anyway in restaurants. But I was disappointed for sure. The Mac was good and came with a decent amount of lobster. However, after having these two I think we would probably just stop at appetizers and drinks next time and the group agreed.
Felix then surprised us with a carrot cake that my wife ordered for me, a really fat piece of it which the table shared and wished me happy birthday. I appreciated the gesture for sure. I believe the dessert was $26 and was more than enough for each of us 8 to get a good slice of it. I don't really eat a lot of desserts but this one was pretty good.
The food including apps, steak, dessert on my tab was about $160 (sliders, salad, charcuterie, ribeye w/danish cheese, lobster Mac, cake)Drinks average about 20-25 each and I had the glass of wine and my wife thinks she had 3 or 4 Top Dogs...LOL... Tab came to $330 total after my wife punched in 20% tip. I think without the steak and lobster Mac it would have been closer to $250 and we still would have had the good time.
In perspective there's some great places close by where we would get all the same in the lower $200s range so not sure I'd call this place a value. However, we certainly enjoyed ourselves overall and the staff had a great hand in that. End of day this is a high cost place, but I believe drinks and appetizers only are a good work around for those not wanting to break the bank.
As a side note: they've gotten much better at making old fashioneds but both my friends with us that drink them like I do said they were a bit sweet. The work around they used was a woodford topper added to cancel it out. read more