Elton W.
Yelp
After reading all the great reviews of this place, we were pretty disappointed with the drinks, food and the overall experience at the restaurant.
We made the decision to go here based off of Yelp reviews, as well as Chef Lucio Garnica's Instagram profile (lgarnica1) where he displays many of his dishes. This however, was a bad idea as most of the dishes on his Instagram were not offered on the menu. So we had to choose dishes from a menu that was frankly not that interesting. And to make matters worse, half the dishes we ordered were great, but the other half were terrible. Here's what we got:
Blood Orange "Frozen" Margarita - was actually not frozen ice, but rather crushed ice. That being said, the flavor was good.
Sage and Cucumber Cocktail - I normally don't complain about too much alcohol, but this drink had way too much and was too overpowering. Couldn't even taste the cucumber. Bad.
Byron Pinot Noir from Central Coast, California - I normally like Pinot's from Central Valley/Coast, CA, but this one was downright terrible. The waiter/manager was raving about it, but frankly, he was wrong. I'm a Sommelier for fun, so I think I know wine fairly well. Pass.
Half Dozen Oysters in a Soy Foam - this was horrendous. Normally I wouldn't ruin a good oyster, especially since we were in a place where they come out of the backyard, but thought we'd try it as the waiter recommended it. I had one oyster and almost sent it back. The smell was so bad that I couldn't tell if it was because the oyster was spoiled or if that's what the foam was supposed to smell like. Then I ate it cause I thought that's how it was supposed to smell, but then couldn't taste anything but a sweet and somewhat sour soy sauce. That's pretty much all I tasted. It was bad, real bad. Pass.
Traditional Gazpacho with Prawns - the flavor of the soup was actually pretty good, however two things were a major annoyance. First, they give you three prawns, which is great, but the problem is, they left the tail shells on. So, we had to either bite the tail off and handle a wet soupy tail with our fingers, or, try to cut off the tails with our spoons. Well I chose the latter, and on the second prawn, as I was attempting to cut it with my spoon, the bowl tipped and most of my soup fell on the table. So, note to chef...either: a) remove the tails before you serve them in the soup, or b) use bowls with a larger base. But on second thought, just remove the tails before served as your customers shouldn't have to work their food.
"Fried" Scallops - scallops were not actually fried, but rather seared, and were actually excellent. Probably the best thing on the menu. The flavors, textures, along with the polenta and egg yolk were excellent. If only all our dishes were this good. Great dish.
Beef Short Rib - another great dish, with excellent flavor and mushrooms were tasty. Not as great as the scallops, but pretty close. Another good dish to get.
So, as you can see, two dishes were excellent, one was ok and one completely sucked. And for cocktails/wine, one was good and the other two were terrible. So, this place is hit or miss.
Ambiance was nice, irrespective of the "W Hotel-type lobby music" they play in the restaurant. Cool artwork and modern seating, but it almost seemed like they were trying to hard, thus resulting a "hip" restaurant you'd find in the suburbs that's trying to feel like it's in the city. Wasn't a deal killer, but lent to a more drinking feel than eating feel.
Service was fairly good at times and then fairly bad at times. Just like the dishes, hit or miss.
Lastly, and something that can be easily fixed. The menu doesn't describe each dish very well and leaves out descriptive words that could give you a better idea of what it's going to taste like. Many of the dishes we ordered, based off verbiage in the menu, turned out to taste completely different than what we expected. For example, the menu says "Blood Orange FROZEN Margarita", so to me, that means finely blended ice as you would get from a frozen machine, but when it arrived, it was just crushed ice...very different than what I wanted and was prepared for. Another example is the "FRIED Scallops". We ordered it cause we never had "fried" scallops before, but when the dish came, the scallops were SEARED, NOT FRIED. We weren't disappointed as they were excellent, but still, caused some confusion and shows that the Menu Verbiage needs to be fixed.
Overall, this place is hit or miss, and at $126 for our crappy meal, I'd pass on it and send you to Canteen, albeit a different kind of restaurant (casual), but at least the food is excellent and you know what you're getting.
But if you must go to Sage, then do so at your own risk. Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky and hit on all dishes, but gambling always favors the casino, so you'll probably end up like I did - 50/50 on good vs bad drinks and dishes.
