Patrick Stilwell
Google
On a recent business trip, my wife joined me and we ventured out for dinner in the city. This restaurant is small and cozy - and I mean *really* small. We called ahead to check for availability and were told we could grab seats at the bar. Perfect! We walked right in with no wait and settled in immediately.
The bartender was sweet and friendly, but something was off with the service. She didn't seem overworked (the place wasn't that busy) and she didn't appear inefficient either, but the service just... wasn't great. She seemed like a lovely person who probably isn't cut out for the service industry - nothing wrong with that, just not her strong suit.
Right off the bat, we hit a snag when my wife asked about swapping the tuna for shrimp on one of the dishes. Nope, absolutely not possible. It seemed like such a simple substitution, but they were completely inflexible about it. Not a great start.
We started with bruschetta, which had great flavor, but it was billed as having a ricotta with it, and if there was any ricotta on there, it was microscopic however, there was about seven tomatoes worth on there... A little imbalanced and needs some improvement. I ordered a chicken dish that was quite tasty and came in a generous portion, but here's where things went downhill fast - two pieces of chicken were loaded with gristle. I'm talking completely inedible, unappetizing gristle. When you're dropping $100+ on a meal at a place like this, serving gristly chicken is just unacceptable. My wife's gnocchi with lobster was pretty good, no major complaints there.
But here's the plot twist - the best thing we ate all night was a simple side of fresh pasta with basic seasoning! Seriously, it was fantastic. Maybe they should focus on nailing the basics like that incredible pasta instead of being so rigid about substitutions or serving subpar chicken.
We wrapped up with a hazelnut torte that was just okay - nothing to write home about. Despite the hiccups, we actually had a fun time together, and honestly? We'd probably come back just to order that amazing plain pasta with a simple protein on the side.
Sometimes the simplest things are the best! To those about to nosh, we salute you!