Jamie M.
Yelp
This review is 3.5 stars.
My friend and I tried the 1001 Nights Pop Up at Quattro to celebrate her completion of a major exam. This was a Prix fixe menu for $85 per person and is four courses: two appetizers, an entree, and a dessert. We had nice time, but we did experience some of the concerns I've seen articulated in other reviews.
Ambiance: The did a great job with the decor. Colorful tents that you can reserve for an additional cost line the entryway. I love the color combinations they selected for the event-The draperies lining the tents were a rich magenta and orange, with teal leather cushions on the seating. The tents are separated with gold, latticed dividers and have beautiful middle eastern lamps hanging from the ceiling. In the non-tented dining area, a massive gold middle eastern style lamp sits in the middle, with lamps strung above the tables. There was also a belly dancer on the night we were there, which was really well done and added to the experience.
Service: Our server was very friendly. We had a number of questions and she was very helpful in answering them. We were taking our time and were not in a rush, but we noticed that when we did order things it took some time for our food to come out. This worked well between the appetizers and the main. But we ordered tea and a little later ordered our dessert and those two items took quite some time to arrive. They didn't seem especially busy so it is unclear why there was a delay. It seems to me that this might be a kitchen issue.
Food: The food was good, but not mind-blowing. For the appetizers, we got to select two each from the dips, salads, and hot mezzes. We ordered the Muhammara (red pepper walnut dip with pomegranate molasses), the fattoush salad (romaine, tomato, cucumber, pomegranate molasses dressing, and pita crisps) , the cheese rolls, and the falafel. My friend, who is Egyptian, said that she has had better Muhammara before. It was my first time having it, and I thought it was quite tasty and had a tang to it, but I would have preferred it a little less sweet. I loved the fattoush salad-the crunchiness of the pita crisps and the freshness of the dressing. I could eat this salad all the time. My friend and I night agreed that the falafel wasn't anything special. But the cheese rolls--oh my. Order these! I have issues with dairy, so, I had to limit my consumption. But the foodie in me had to give it a try at least, even in light of the consequences I would later face for my dairy-laden indiscretion. The cheese was perfectly melty and the crunch from the puffed pastry outside was oh so good. I would have eaten them all if I could.
For the entrees, I ordered the Moroccan Stew and my friend ordered the sea bass. The Moroccan Stew was a winner. It's braised beef short ribs in a sauce of prunes, apricots, and ras el hanout, served with couscous. The sauce was rich and sweet at the same time, and the short ribs were incredibly tender. The sea bass was served with a pepper and tomato stew with harissa tahini. Unfortunately, the sea bass was dry. No amount of the sauce that went with it (which wasn't that flavorful) could rescue it. My friend even tried dipping it in the Moroccan Stew to see if that would improve the situation. It did, but only marginally.
For dessert, we had Moroccan mint tea, the Levantine Pistachio Tiramisu, and the Dragon's Beard Candy Ice Cream. The Moroccan Mint Tea is caffeinated, so beware if that is a concern for you, but it was sweet (but not too sweet) and delicious. Both our desserts were tasty, but I'd say that the Tiramisu was excellent. It was made with pistachio cream, orange blossom, and a baklava sheet on top. It was light, creamy, and not too sweet. I would not miss out on this one. On the ice cream, Dragon's Beard candy is like cotton candy so the ice cream had these strands of candy on top that were very much like cotton candy. I don't remember what the flavors were exactly of the ice cream-something like pistachio and saffron. The ice cream was very good, but not as good as the tiramisu, in my opinion.
Overall, I'd give it an A+ on atmosphere and a B/B- on the food-some dishes were very good, others were meh. We had a nice time here, and I'd recommend if you are looking for an experience, but set your expectations accordingly.