Mark K.
Yelp
I SO wanted to love this place. I'm a sucker for old school, and this place is absolutely that. The food and presentation remind me of the first restaurant I worked in during the mid 70's.
The windows in the front are covered with deep burgundy vertical blinds, and the inside is VERY, VERY dark with vintage dark wood, textured metal artwork, black ceilings, dark walls and very odd round blue and red light globes and track lighting. There are three large fish tanks lining the center of the room with booths circling the sides of the room and tables with red cloths and butcher paper in the middle.
It's truly a step back in time.
Being raised in the restaurant business, there are a couple of things that really annoy me. I walked in to find about four of the staff sitting in the chairs by the counter in the front. The hostess didn't say HI, she started with "picking up a to-go order?" (I was by myself and dressed casually.) And walking me passed about four empty booths to seat me in the very last one next to the kitchen, didn't bother to light the only candle in the dining room that was out or take the other place settings away.
The server came by said hi and asked if she could get me something to eat. I started with a glass of Chianti and needed a few minutes to decide.
I started with the Escargot ($12.00) it was served in a winged casserole dish with lots of sliced button mushrooms, plenty of garlic and butter. It came with garlic toast points for dipping and was probably the best thing I had.
When the escargot came out, it seemed the server had the wrong table number and didn't belong to the booth next to me. Instead of turning around to me, the person running the food stood in the middle of the dining room waiting for the server to finish taking an order.
For my entrée, I ordered the Veal Piccata ($21.00) it comes with Angel Hair Pasta. There was a large pile of pasta topped with about five thin pounded pieces of veal, in a lemon butter sauce with a lot of capers. The pasta was quite a bit overcooked but the veal was actually very nice.
*if you are serving tender slices of veal don't stick a big honking steak knife in the side of the plate. It cut with a fork but had me worried when it came out.
Also, take it easy on the paprika, it's not a vegetable, there was enough on this dish that the butter sauce had turned orange.
I went full tilt and got dessert. I had the Tiramisu which was really poor, the ladyfingers were barely visible on the bottom, there was no coffee flavor... but in all honesty, the cream was soft, smooth and rich.
The place really suffers an identity crisis. The servers are in black pants and long sleeve black dress shirts, there are tablecloths on the tables and $20+ entrees. But, it's a total beach crowd, people in bathing suits with cover-ups on a Saturday night, people YELLING down their table and kids running all over.
Absolutely not rushing to go back. Based on the fact that it was after seven on a Saturday, mid-summer and the place was less than half full, I'm not the only one.