Kevin J.
Yelp
Finally managed to visit on a fall Friday evening with my family, now that the hype has died down several years in and reservations are actually reasonably achievable. Worth the hype? 80% of the way, I'd say.
Worth a visit, but not sure I'd come here regularly! Maybe as a special occasion, because the ambience and novelty of the food do still stand out.
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Ambience: Beautiful, amazing, gorgeous, intimate. This is a great date night spot. I visited during the late fall so it was already a bit cold out, but I can imagine on a summer evening, this would be peak.
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Service: Our server (younger Asian lady, forgot her name sorry!) was amazing. Very attentive checking on us for appetizers, drinks, water refills, etc. The food came out quickly, no problems there.
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Food: This is where Terra sadly drops a star. The food is very tasty, with some interesting options you wouldn't see at a "standard" Italian restaurant. But the prices are really high in terms of what you get quality- and portion-wise, and there are some misses execution-wise.
The restaurant's main focus and strength would appear to be grilled meats, with a few lighter seasonal(?) pasta dishes and seafood dishes. My mom was hoping there would be a fish entree besides the whole branzino, but no dice here. (Recommendation to Terra staff - you already have tuna, swordfish, squid, and prawns on the Grigliata de Pesce, might be worth considering breaking some of those out into seafood entrees.)
Appetizers:
* Crudo di Pesce - tuna and scallop crudo. Pretty tasty! Lightly salted, with a tangy vinaigrette, and a generous drizzling of a really delicious olive oil. The scallops were the highlight here. The tuna was a bit fishier than I prefer - had a bit of that fishy smell that you wouldn't get with sashimi.
* Street food chicken skewers - simple but tasty! Just a bunch of small pieces of cubed chicken on skewers, grilled to a tender and juicy doneness, then served with sea salt and cayenne on the side.
Mains:
* I had the pork chop, which was pretty good! A big hunk of pork, juicy and well cooked, with a tasty peach(?) sauce. A little light on the accompaniments - there were endives on the side, but for some reason they had a heavy fishy smell like Japanese mackerel so I didn't end up finishing them. (I'm seeing there was a grape and saba vinaigrette, but the endives tasted so heavily of fish I don't know if that was intended.)
* Ricotta ravioli - fell a bit flat, especially for the price. For a dish that uses so much cheese (ricotta and parm. reggiano) and lemon butter, it was surprisingly light and didn't pack as much of a flavor oomph as I was hoping. Portion was a bit disappointing for $29.