Sylvain K.
Google
We had high expectations for this restaurant. Paula and her team are just killing it with Lady Baker, which is our favorite food business in south Florida. But we were disappointed. Maybe our expectations were too high?
We went for diner, 6:30PM. We liked the little introduction explaining the the menu is centered around their sourdough, with every dish having some in it. Which is a nice touch and a great idea.
Disclaimer that I have a garlic allergy so most items on the list weren’t available to me. Perhaps that prevented me from getting the best items on the menu.
For starter we had the beet carpaccio, it was beautiful done, tasted fine, but too simplistic in term of flavor. Just boring. Also not sure where the sourdough was in this dish, but that’s a minor detail.
For main dish, my partner had the Fettuccine which she liked. I could only have pizza because of my allergy, so I had the Mortadella Pizza. The dough was excellent, the topping were good but ultimately nothing exciting for either of us.
Desert might have been the most disappointing. With such great baking talent, we believed they got to do something amazing. The selection was really disappointing: chocolate mouse, apple pudding and riz au lait. What in the world? We were offered the riz au lait, which tasted fine, but really not something you want after eating pizza and pasta. We were filled already with carbs!
Service can be improved. First, when I was told I could not have the choices I made for starter and main dish because of my allergy, the waiter directed me to pizzas. I was not interested in pizzas so I confirmed that the rest of the menu had garlic. He said yes. So I would just have gone with a pizza and no starter. Until my partner found this odd and asked where was the garlic in the burrata starter. Turns out I could have many of the starters and it was a miscommunication from the waiter.
Then, there was an issue with the oven. So by the time my partner was done eating her main dish, I still didn’t have my pizza. The waiter apologized multiple times, but still not a good experience. Also the waiter was apologizing looking at my partner when I was the one waiting. A bit odd. They did offer the desert on the house, so that was a nice gesture. In general everyone was super nice and doing their best, but I feel our waiter wasn’t the best, maybe stressed or junior 🤷♂️
The highlight of the evening for me was the wine. I did not know any of the wine on the menu, so I decided to go with something that works all the time: a sparkling wine. I saw a “red sparkling” and thought they meant “pink sparkling”. When the sommelier (or whoever that was) came to serve us, I realized it was actually a red wine. I never had red sparkling, and boy it was fabulous. Everything about it was new to me and I had a blast drinking it. Well done on picking that wine!
Wine is in the restaurant slogan so I was expecting a nice wine curation. I feel the experience can be improved. I knew none of the wines on the menu, despite knowing quite a bit about wine, as they are probably coming from small wineries. If there is a sommelier, or someone in charge of drinks (looked like there was someone) how about the waiter offers that they come to help with wine selection? Or maybe share a little description on the wine list? Most restaurants in South Florida carry bad wine, so I almost did not bother ordering. But this red was mind blowing, I ordered it by mistake, I am wondering if the rest of the wine list is as good, but how can I tell?
Price-wise I feel everything was reasonably priced and the restaurant design is nice.
I still give 5 stars because I want to support Paula and her team, help them keep the business open and I hope my long comment is useful feedback. I am confident they can improve. Let’s go team :) we want to see you do even better!
