Sheri M.
Yelp
Overall Grade: 3 = C
Ambiance: 4
Service: 3
Food: 2
Disappointing--Not worth the price
Bred in the Bone is a new Mediterranean restaurant in the lovely town of Damariscotta, ME. I am Lebanese American and was eager to try it. Reservations can be made online, but they're booking about a week out at this writing (May 31, 2023). The restaurant is tastefully decorated with hammered tin ceilings, wood floors, green paint and brick walls, large vases of flowers, and some cute window seating. Comfy pillows are provided for the bench seats against the walls and windows. Menues are printed on heavy paper. We received a torn wine list. This isn't important, but in an upscale restaurant, one expects intact menues. Silverware was clean and weighty, but the server did not bring fresh silverware after the appetizer.
We were the first guests in the restaurant at 5 PM. There was an available two-top in the window, but it was not offered to us. We asked, and the waitress said we could move, but she seemed a bit put out by the request; we did not move.
The waitress offered flat or bubbly water and took our drink orders quickly. I explained that I have a severe dairy protein allergy, and she took note. She was neat and polite, but we were surprised that she never checked our water after she served our initial carafe. We ran out with none left by dessert.
No bread was brought to the table. More on this later.
We ordered the eggplant spread from the "bar menu" as most of the other appetizer choices contained dairy. The waitress offered a dairy-free version, but we were happy to try the eggplant dip that she said was like baba ganoush. It was nothing like baba ganoush. It was grainy, the eggplant was not sufficiently roasted, and I could not detect garlic. This dip tasted vegetal--more like uncooked eggplant. It was served with plenty of olive oil and not enough seasoning (it needed salt among other things), and very tasty, warm flat bread.
My husband ordered the seared scallop special. The scallops were properly, lightly seared, but the dish came with asparagus that was too thick and fibrous, and potato salad that was too cold. Although the sauce was tasty, he said the contrast in temperature was jarring and unpleasant, and the potato salad cooled the scallops arranged on top of it too much.
I had the linguini con vongole. I especially wanted this because it was made with bottarga, uni, and Calabrian chili. The linguini was thick and heavy. It was wide like fettuccine but the texture was off. It was too dense and chewy. Some strands were stuck together making it heavy and difficult to eat. The clams were tiny and good. There was enough salt, probably thanks to the bottarga and uni, but the sauce was flat. There was no evidence of the Calabrian chili. I also felt it needed acid. It had an interesting grassy flavor, but overall it was disappointing.
Both my husband and I had sauce left over in our bowls, but no bread was served to mop it up. I didn't even see it offered as an option on the menu. Not only am I Lebanese, I have lived in France and traveled extensively around the Mediterranean. Great bread is always offered. Oh well. Another disappointment.
We split the baklava for dessert. You can probably guess my reaction. Granted, I was raised on homemade baklava, but this was really sad. It was bone dry and had one thick layer of large chopped pistachios. The filo tasted as if it was store-bought and stuck to the roof of your mouth. I watched a sous chef in the open kitchen trying to remove it from its tray. She struggled mightily, a sign the baklava was over cooked. There was honey syrup but nowhere near enough. Baklava should be moist with 4 layers of filo and 3 layers of finely crushed nuts. We should have needed to lick our fingers afterwards, but, alas, you couldn't even pick this stuff up without it falling apart.
And all this for $115! That included two glasses of wine for $25 total so the food cost $90. I wouldn't complain about the price if the food had been scrumptious, but I found the menu pretentious and complex without delivering consistently on flavor. That's why this is such a long review. I'm tired of spending too much on mediocrity. That said, they just opened, and I hope our experience is simply reflective of new kitchen/menu jitters. We might give them several months to find their groove and try again. We certainly wish them all the best.
