Dave F.
Yelp
First, the good: Our server (Garrett, I think) was extremely attentive and came often. Our water glasses were never empty and Garrett was very polite. The wine list was very good and had an excellent selection from most regions. The spirits list was also good, with many pours and cocktails to choose from. The menu itself was very much par for the course for this kind of seafood and steakhouse. Two of us started with selections from the raw bar: a shrimp cocktail and oysters on the half-shell. Both tasted fine. For the main course, the scallops looked the best of the four dishes at our table and were apparently amazing. The rockfish special was also delicious and my steak was a perfectly cooked medium-rare. The red mashed potatoes were excellent as well. The table shared two berry bread puddings with ice cream and the bread pudding tasted good. The restaurant was pretty empty, as it was early dinner on a Tuesday. Our table by the window was perfect and we were able to talk and hear each other very well (until the end when a loud table was seated next to us). When we left, the owner was outside offering to take pictures of us with a phone. He had a ring light, posed us nicely, and we got to take home some nice photos, which was a nice touch.
Now, the not so good: Although Garrett was super nice and attentive, I'm not sure they listened very well. My béarnaise sauce never arrived and Garrett looked at me oddly when I mentioned it, so I don't think he heard when I ordered it. Also, Garrett forgot my cousin's coffee at the end of dinner, and because we were headed to a show, he had to pass on the coffee due to time constraints. Although the wine list was very good, some wine bottles were marked up 400% or more from what you can purchase them for in the store. I understand when you order a glass of wine, the first glass needs to pay for the bottle, so by the glass is one thing. However, for the bottles to be so expensive I thought was a little excessive. I'd bring your own bottle and pay the cork fee if they allow it. As mentioned, the spirit list was good, but it would have been nice to see some more special whiskeys as well as some varied bourbon choices from Buffalo Trace distillery. When I got my shrimp cocktail, I have to say we were all rather shocked at how small the four shrimp were for $22! I order shrimp cocktail whenever it is on the menu and when it's that expensive, it's usually four to five colossal shrimp that could almost be considered a meal unto itself. These four shrimp were your normal run of the mill large shrimp that you could buy already cooked at your local grocery store for $2-$3 tops. It was really laughable. I don't mind paying a lot for it, but make it worth my while man. Our biggest complaint across the board is that all of the food that was supposed to be served hot was on the warm to even cold side. As mentioned earlier, I ordered a medium-rare filet, which I know is not going to be super hot due to how it's cooked, but it had hardly any temperature whatsoever. A little hot oil would have been an easy fix. Also, I couldn't taste any salt, so I'm not sure anything was done other than cooking it to how it was ordered (ever watch the Food Network, guys?). When I reminded them that I ordered béarnaise sauce (because I know that restaurants can serve steaks cold and with little taste, lol) it came quickly, so of course it too was cold. The thing that was supposed to warm and provide taste to my steak, did neither. Considering the price of things at Bookbinders, this is pretty unacceptable. To cap things off, when the berry bread pudding came out for the two ladies at our table, it was also served cold. One could say it was slightly warm, but it wasn't warm enough to melt the ice cream it was served with and was cold in the center. Although it tasted OK, it just wasn't enjoyable cold. Overall, a cold dinner that costs you over $500 isn't quite worth it.
