Bill D.
Yelp
To be clear, my spouse worked here a decade or more before it had closed for COVID and since reopened.
They reopened again 10 weeks or so ago, after being closed for a couple years and doing a bit of a remodel of the interior. They actually changed little, but the place is now lighter & brighter than it had been.
The website says clearly in several spots that no reservations are required. Well, true perhaps, but if you want to sit at an adult-sized table you definitely need reservations. We showed up and were seated at a smallish cocktail-sized table in the bar. Turns out this wasn't nearly large enough, but we'll get to that in a moment.
They have nothing for a children's menu regarding food and drink, YOU MUST ASK. They had several drink options not listed on the menu including tea and milk, and luckily a hot cocoa which is what our son finally decided upon. We adults had adult beverages that while slightly different (a.k.a. they put their own stamp on it) were fine for the most part. I will say that I've never had an Old Fashioned with powdered cinnamon in it. It tasted fine, and I ended up having two of them (after they suggested trying their Old Manhattan and finding it nearly revolting). My wife found her drinks to be fine, not special or tasty or different, just fine.
We chatted with our server for a bit about things, the history of the place, my wife's time working there, different things that were not on the menu, etc. before we finally ordered food.
The menu appears to be ala carte, so we ordered that way. Turns out it is not, and we almost had more plates than we knew what to do with at the little table we had.
We ordered the Roman Flatbread as an appetizer, and found it to be rather wanting. It appeared to possibly be a cooked, perhaps lightly fried, tortilla or more likely pita bread, with a small drizzle of honey. 6 pizza wedge slices in all, rather small, some oddly canoe shaped serving plate with a couple slices of prosciutto and some kind of soft cheese. No plates provided, no tableware, no napkins. We had to ask for each before trying to dig in (we didn't get the plates at all, which was a good thing in the end).
Beef Wellington. I've had it before, not at this business, and I found it lacking this time. I'm not sure what cut of beef was used as the menu didn't say (and I must admit I had trouble reading the menu due to both type size, font, and lack of ambient lighting) and it also did not say what each entree already came with. Turns out the Wellington includes potato, carrot, and asparagus tips along with some kind of berry sauce and something green and leafy. These were not listed on the menu as part of the item description. Our son ordered a house made spaghetti and while it tasted good, he said the meatballs were too spicy for him. We also ordered the potato puree and garlic-rosemary fries (I forget the exact menu naming at this point). We barely had table space for all that and the drinks, and we had plates hanging over the table edge during the entire meal. I would say this was our fault, but we also ordered way more food than we had planned to in the end because of the lack of descriptive text being included with each menu item.
Their wellington has changed. It used to be beef covered in mushroom duxelles, but no longer. It also used to be wrapped/covered in puff pastry, also no longer. It is the cut of beef, smallish in my opinion, with a lattice of puff pastry wrapped over it (and perhaps beneath, couldn't be sure as the underside was mushy and squished together when we received the plates). It tasted fine certainly, but it wasn't a real Wellington in my opinion. My wife agreed with the same thoughts. For $50+ I certainly expected more. The sauce was fine, definitely some kind of berry but also with a hint of a burnt flavor to it. The sauce did add to the overall flavor of the wellington in a good way I think.
At first I thought we'd ordered too much food, certainly too many plates for the small table we'd been seated at, but in the end I found that we'd polished off everything and still wanted more as we were still somewhat hungry. After having the dessert menu recited to us and asking a few questions, we declined and instead asked for our bill, eventually paid and departed.
While our son did enjoy the personal guided tour of the old mansion he received from his mother (including the pictures of the ghost and such), he didn't overall enjoy the place much.
After departing, we went to the St. Paul Grill for drinks and dessert, which we were all pleased with, before heading home.
I'd like to believe we'd have had a better experience being seated in one of the dining rooms, or at least would have been more comfortable in a quieter environment.
Tips:
ALWAYS make reservations.
DECLINE to be seated in the bar unless you only want drinks (noisy).
ASK questions about menu items (notably, what's included).
Don't bring the kids unless they enjoy fine dining meals.
