Liz T.
Yelp
I really wanted to like this place, but it unfortunately didn't hit expectations. This was my first time visiting and I brought my daughter to celebrate her 18th birthday. The reviews of this place and the menu looked good, so we figured it would be a special treat.
Right off the bat, the place is deceptive from the outside. The building looks old and run down, and there is no obvious sign letting you know you're at the right place. It's got a dingy old door that looks like some weird side door that you go in.
As soon as you enter, there is a huge bar and then a lot of tables they've really squeezed in. They seated us at a booth right next to the swinging kitchen door, which is also weird bc it isn't located in the back or where it's not in the way of customers / walking employees.
The restaurants was playing music and generally had a lot of noise. After my daughter and I were seated, she started showing me a digital birthday card her grandma sent her. As we were watching it, a server came up and asked that we put our "media away" as it could bother other patrons. While I understand that people often have their phones out and looking at Tik Tok or similar, it was rude of the server to just assume and also even ask us to put it away. The restaurant was not quiet by any means, nor is it fancy where you wouldn't dare pull your phone out. I told the server we were watching a birthday card and he did apologize, but it definitely turned us off right from the get go. He said this BEFORE he even greeted us. It was bizarre.
I want to note, in their menu, they specify that they add 4% onto your bill if you pay with card. Why. Why is a 4% non-cash adjustment added. The prices of the dishes are already astronomical and they expect people will pay cash?? Nobody has cash on them anymore. I thought this was crazy in and of itself.
I ordered the shrimp starter and my daughter got the mussels. They came out relatively fast and came with a side of crusty bread. The shrimp was just okay, nothing special. My daughter did love the mussels...they were HUGE.
For our entrees, I ordered the vongole, and my daughter the spaghetti and meatballs. Neither of these dishes were spectacular. The vongole was basically like spaghetti in soup and void of much flavor. The spaghetti was basically 5 giant meatballs with some spaghetti noodles added in there. The noodles in both of the dishes did not taste homemade...they tasted like regular packaged noodles.
Overall, the food was lacking. We didn't finish our meals, minus the bread which was good. The food is also overpriced. $22 for some spaghetti noodles, watery broth, and clams! Nope nope.
The server did feel bad about the cell phone thing and comped us our drinks, so that was appreciated.
Shrimp starter 5/10
Mussels starter 10/10
Spaghetti w/ meatballs 5/10
Vongole 3/10