Brett D.
Yelp
The idea of a bubbly bar in Lafayette Square immediately caught my attention, so when I saw it was open I made plans to go that first weekend. I made a reservation for our group of three for Saturday night and we were seated promptly. After that, any dreams of this becoming my new favorite spot...popped. I'll start with what went right. 1) They have a great and lengthy drink menu with a wide range of price points. You can spend in the mid-30s for a bottle all the way up to $100-200. You can also get craft cocktails, beer, and bubbly (but not grape based) drinks. 2) the staff were friendly and accommodating (when actually present). The owner (I believe it was the owner, maybe the manager) was being super helpful and trying to check in on tables and make sure everything was fine. However, our service was pretty slow at the table and we ended up having a new server seem to take over mid-way through our night after the girl we started with disappeared. I honestly think the poor service was just a result of opening weekend kinks and the service will improve, it would have still been a four star experience if it wasn't for the food. We wanted to try several things since it was a new place and we were excited. We had the Gougere, Fruits De Met Board, Bacon Fat Fries, Caviar, Eggplant dish, Duck Confit, and Duck Breast. I tried everything and while the egg plant was probably the best dish overall, it still wasn't a stand out amongst STL cuisine. The duck confit was a HUGE disappointment. It was served with what was labeled "duck stock risotto" but it was honestly the most bland, overcooked, mushy "risotto" I have ever had. It was truly inedible and I don't believe I have ever described a dish that way. The duck meat itself, on both dishes, was good. The caviar was a super small portion not very good for sharing and, although the caviar itself wasn't bad, it was served on with "vinegar chips" which just tasted like very salty and greasy potato chips. The chips completely overpowered the taste of the caviar which was very disappointing. I had high hopes for the bacon fat fries, but when they came out they were room temperature and not very crisp at all. The homemade ketchup they came with was good though--very sweet but we liked it.
Very clean, nice ambiance, a nice drink menu selection. I would come back for a drink with a friend. However, not a spot on my list for dinners in the future. I'm hoping as they move forward they are able to work out a lot of these problems which seemed to be a result of understaffing and inexperience with menu and flow.