Xinyi Z.
Yelp
This was originally going to be a 1-2 star review but the manager of the restaurant turned our experience around.
We decided to come here for our anniversary instead of Porch and Parlor this year and had a reservation at 5:15pm, a little early for dinner but it was either that or 8:30. We were excited to try out this place since we both really like their sister restaurants - Bishop and Gray Canary.
Upon walking into the restaurant, I thought the hostess could've been much more friendly. But not a deal breaker. She sat us down at a small table near the window which would've been fine had the sun not been directly roasting my face. Already off to a rocky start. The waitress came by shortly after to take our drink orders and I asked her to recommend something on the fruity side. But apparently the most fruity drink they had was the Aphrodite which was out. So I went with a glass of Prosecco that she recommended but sadly ended up tasting like something I could've gotten from Trader Joe's for much less.
For our dinner, we ordered the Cornbread ($10), Carramelle, Casonsei, and the Chicken Milanese entree. Even though our waitress gave us a heads up about the small portion size for the pastas, I was still somehow surprised by just how small they were, especially for the price, both pasta dishes were $18 each. Did they taste amazing though? That's a hard no. Though I have to say the Carramelle was the better one but then again, the portion size was just ridiculously small. When the server brought out the Chicken Milanese I couldn't believe was I was seeing, I could already tell how dry and overcooked it was from how thin the cut was, and the garnish was...lack of a better word...laughable. They sprinkled some sad looking lettuce and random beans on top of the chicken...the presentation was just really off putting for $32. And yes, it was indeed overcooked and dry.
The waitress asked how our dinner was going and we sheepishly said it's ok and I told her the chicken was overcooked. To her credit she did ask if we wanted to order something else to which I said "no it's ok" and then she just said ok and walked away as if she could care less that our anniversary dinner was being ruined by the blazing sunlight in my face, overcooked piece of dry chicken, overpriced pastas, and the entire underwhelming experience.
I was getting more and more irritable and just wanted to leave and get our second dinner elsewhere. Well this is when things started to turn around. The waitress brought over the manager after she realized I was actually more upset than I appeared and he convinced us to give them another try and recommended one of his favorites, The Pork Belly Chop. He also gave us Focaccia on the house which was delicious. The pork chop was definitely a mood changer, it was perfectly seasoned and full of flavors. Each bite was sweet and juicy, and the meat was nice and tender. The waitress also came back with a complimentary (fruity) drink which I loved, much better than the Prosecco.
Props to the restaurant manager for really going above and beyond to ensure his customers leave happy. I really appreciate his effort in trying to make things right and we will probably return in the future to give them another try because of him.