Lisa E.
Yelp
Davio's is a great example of how a bad business model can tank a restaurant. My husband was in Atlanta on business and I came along, so I was committed to at least two group meals at restaurants I hadn't chosen. Thursday night we went to. French bistro that was packed and noisy, so we asked to sit outdoors and waited while they set up a table in a quiet part of the patio. once we were seated, staff was gracious and focused on making sure we were comfortable. Because they were so pleasant, we were encouraged to upgrade our orders to the prIx fixe menu and order a second round of drinks. Dinner cost about $100 apiece and we were happy to spend it.
Friday, we went to Davio's. They made it clear from the start that dinner was about them, not us. The server said he would explain the menu after he took drink orders. I said that I didn't know what I wanted to drink until I decided what I wanted to eat: could he please explain the menu first? No, he had to take drink orders first. So I tried to puzzle out why some entrees came with side dishes and others didn't, and whether I could get the salmon with something other than lump crab, which I can't eat. When the waiter did "explain the menu," he simply read it word for word, adding "that's one of my favorites" to about half the selections. I had to ask him whether the $35 a la carte salmon included any side dishes. It did not; I would have to pay an additional $15-19 for each vegetable. I then decided it would be useless to ask them to alter the $39 non a la carte salmon entree to my taste; I would just cut my losses and order the cheapest thing on the menu. So I got a plate of spaghetti with plain tomato sauce. No salad, no drink, since the waiter never cycled back to ask what I wanted. Apparently, if you don't order drinks on the first round, you get plain water. (Which was actually not a bad thing, since two of the other diners in our party got the wrong drinks and drank them anyway.)
Maybe selling folks a bowl of pasta for $24 instead of a three course meal for $50, plus what they spend on drinks, is a better per meal profit margin, but since Davio's was three quarters empty on a Friday night, unlike our jam-packed Thursday bistro, I can't think that their approach is more profitable in the long run. But I'll never know, because I'll never be back.