Eva H.
Yelp
I feel like The Bottle is a restaurant with an identity crisis. By all outward appearances--pricey menu, when you make a reservation you're told dress code is "business casual," it's in a prime location--you expect it to be "fine dining" and a "nicer place." In reality? Ehhh...
So I begrudgingly dressed up and put on heels, only to find that I was seated--and served--by very friendly ladies wearing combat boots and black t-shirts. They truly need to update their dress code to "casual." Hell, I caught a glimpse of one diner's butt cheek (not even exaggerating) because she was wearing a tiny terry cloth romper. So, I repeat: you do not have to dress up at this restaurant.
Onto the food...I mean, it was okay. We started with an app special, a smoked fish dip, and it was...alright. Exceptionally dry (SO dry), not very smoky, though a huge portion (and I appreciated the pickled onions). 7 Carr water crackers weren't of much use, though, unless you had them loaded down so much they nearly collapsed.
The bread is just the Sister Schubert rolls that you can find in the grocer's freezer, btw. I'm not sure why everyone raves about this. I appreciated the softened herbed butter but, again, that is an easily made accompaniment.
Our salads--fried okra and caesar--were adequate. The okra was proclaimed by our server as "fresh out of the fryer!" which struck me as odd--should I assume that they are NOT served fried to order normally? My caesar was woefully underseasoned, which is not something I anticipated given that it has parmesan and dressing usually blended with anchovies. I was hungry and ate it, but this was NOT a good caesar. (Of note: for a good caesar, go to Mazzara's.)
Mains were okay, I guess. I mean, if I'm paying $50 for a *maybe* 4 ounce steak, I would appreciate them cooking it medium rare (requested) and not medium well, but it was fine. The potatoes were (you guessed it) underseasoned, and the vegetables were odd--I'm not sure why they added bell peppers to broccolini and teeny tiny carrot slices that were overcooked to oblivion. Better half got scallops, they were deemed "adequate" with the couscous being the highlight.
Nothing about this menu--except the okra--seemed seasonal, everything needed a healthy dash of salt, and I didn't find the service (which came across as pushy--everything we ordered was followed up with a suggested add on like I was at Chili's) exceptional.
Finally, everyone knows by now, I think, that pretty much all back of house at every restaurant smokes cigarettes. However, I didn't really want to watch a sous (I assume) smoke outside right by our window for 10 minutes while we were still waiting on our app. I don't begrudge people's vices, but go in the back of the building.
Practical notes:
You could, in theory, use their valet or just use the city parking lot across the street which is much cheaper. There is also street parking, albeit limited.
See above about the dress code.
They take reservations, but they were not needed when we were there.
This restaurant gets loud--between the 70's tunes and the SUPER loud Boomer who was going into extreme detail about her ingrown toenail next to us--be warned that it may not be the intimate, charming experience you expect
This is an exceptionally overpriced restaurant over the years, despite the fact that their prices have seemingly moderated a bit over the years--if you're on an expense account, however, this may be music to your ears