Jason G.
Yelp
We were excited to visit. The food was 5-stars, but the service was only 3-stars.
First, the good stuff...when we arrived for our reservation, the place was crowded. But, we were immediately greeted and taken to our table; a nice spot along a wall, with a great view of the open kitchen. Not only was this a pleasant surprise -- we typically enjoy watching staff prepare dishes in fine dining establishments -- it also turned out to be a benefit to understanding the service issues we experienced later. In general, we felt the restaurant was stylishly casual, with dining divided between several small rooms, creating a fairly intimate experience and helping keep down noise and traffic near the tables.
After only a few minutes at our table we were greeted by our waiter. He had a casual, easy manner that felt right for the vibe of the place. And, throughout the evening, he remained the same. In addition to our waiter, we interacted with several runners through the evening who delivered and described plates for the various courses. All were pleasant and spoke confidently.
We opted to start with a round of cocktails, the Flora Rosa and the Sunny Disposition. Both were flavorful with a nice craft vibe. For our meals we chose the Presents menu (chef's tasting) accompanied by the wine pairings.
The first course, Trout Rillette, was a very nice craft riff on tuna salad. The second course, Chicken of the Woods "Tenders", was a less interesting craft riff, this time on chicken tenders. The third course was a wonderful Honeynut Squash stuffed with Barley Risotto. The fourth, and final cooked course, was Duck Breast with Potato Rosti and a Concord Grape Sauce. The duck was presented rare and well seasoned, but without any sign of a sear. This may have been purposeful, but it left the duck feeling a bit one dimensional for us. The grape sauce was a winner...a distinct concord grape flavor up front, with a comfortable depth and heft to stand with the duck. The final course was desert; Fig Leaf Ice Cream with Fig Jam and Fresh Figs. This too was a winner.
As mentioned earlier, we opted for the wine pairings for our meal. We were very happy we did. Each paired well with its plate, and we appreciated the inclusion of a local vintner for one of the courses.
A final note about the food. Each dish was aesthetically plated (except the "tenders" which arrived in a basket), and delivered to our table quickly from the kitchen (we were able to watch our dishes being crafted, inspected, and then nearly immediately picked up by runners).
Now for the not as good...the service. While our waiter seemed happy to answer questions, if he didn't have an answer, he made no attempt to find one out. This happened several times during our meal. Also, we asked the runner who picked up our finished dishes from the duck course about how the potato rosti was prepared. She went to the kitchen to ask the station chef who'd cooked our potatoes. But, she didn't return with an answer. Instead, we watched her just go back about her normal duties.
The pacing...got off track after our first course, and never improved. Our reservation was quoted for 90 min, but we spent 2 hr 50 min at the table. As mentioned earlier, we could see the kitchen from where we were seated. We could also hear the staff talk. Not sure of his official position, but a gentleman in a flowered shirt seemed responsible for the flow of orders in and plates out of the kitchen. We could clearly see him using visual cues to manage the pace of our dishes, and could hear him each time he called our next course to the staff. Unfortunately, he'd wait several minutes after our previous course had been cleared before calling in the next, which created gaps of 15 minutes or more between courses. As we waited for our squash course, we watched the kitchen seemingly take a break. After nearly 10 minutes of idle time, he appeared to realize we'd been forgotten. We heard him call out our order and watched as he and one of the station chef's debated about what had happened.
One final hiccup with service. A couple days before our visit, we exchanged emails with the restaurant to add a cake to take home with us. Unfortunately, instead of receiving a boxed cake on our way out, it was brought to us between the duck and desert courses, plated, to be eaten right then. Also, our waiter seemed completely unaware we wanted it to take home.
As a final disappointment, at no point in the evening was anything said to us by anyone about any of the issues or mistakes. It was as though it was all normal.
In the end, we enjoyed our visit, and appreciated the craft and creativity of the food. Our bill was more than $200 per person though. At that price point, we have far less tolerance for service related issues, especially when there's zero acknowledgement at the time by the staff. I feel confident we'll go back for another meal. Hopefully the service will be hiccup free.
