Aaron M.
Yelp
1st visit here and it will be my last. Quite an interesting night at Brown Bottle, and the only thing I can say is, the waiter was the best part of the meal.
Since I have limited space I'll just hit the low notes of the evening. Ordered 2 cuts of Prime Rib, one for me and one for my 12 year old daughter. She got the early bird sized and I got the 12 oz. Both were ordered medium rare. Both were delivered medium well. Sometimes w/Prime you can get away with over cooking it if it's still juicy and tender. These were neither, so we sent them back saying they must have misread the ticket and thought Medium Rare = Medium Well. No big deal. So the server, who was excellent by the way, comes back and says they overcooked tonight's Prime Rib and this was all they had. So I chose to eat it rather than wait another 20 minutes for another dish. At best, my new cut was overcooked slightly more than Medium, no dip in Au Jus so it wouldn't cook any further, and my daughter only ate 1/2 her Prime and she's a ravenous carnivore when it comes to beef. Even she said it wasn't medium rare...and she's 12.
Desert was kind of a joke. Brownie Pie is just a slice of thin brownie with whipped cream spread like frosting, not sure what kind of pie this is supposed to resemble. No crust, no filling, just a brownie with frosting. The cherry cobbler is a hot ramekin full of canned cherry pie filling, about a tablespoon of quick oats on top and a scoop of ice cream. After 2 min, you're eating soupy cherry pie filling with scattered hints of quick oats and melted ice cream. Neither desert was worth the price.
Here's the fun part, when I got my bill, it was $122. We had 5 people, had 3 drinks, so that price is about right for fine dining. What I didn't understand was the full price of both Prime Rib meals as they clearly couldn't deliver a medium rare piece on 2 attempts but still wanted me to pay $24.95 for mine and $14.95 for my daughter's. The server agreed and said he'd take care of it. When he came back, he said the owner told him there was nothing she could do since we ate the meals. Ok...so my wife went to speak to a manager and she ending up speaking to the cook/owner of the restaurant. What she said was, Yes those cuts were medium rare. We wasted 4 cuts of perfectly fine prime rib and she personally saw those cuts go out and they were Medium Rare. Even offered to go into the kitchen and take a picture of the remaining prime rib to prove it was cooked to Medium Rare....only to return and say they had sold out of Prime Rib for the night....at 6:30 on a Wednesday with only about 1/2 of the tables sat. At this point I'd already paid the full $122, tipped the server as well, but was definitely planning to never return anyway because the food wasn't that good and definitely not worth the cost. But this interaction with the owner just sealed the deal. At one point her husband had to come out and tell her to stop arguing. Eventually she offered to take off the Early Bird Prime Rib. We told her no, it wasn't about the cost, it was just telling them the beef temps were not right but it turned into a huge altercation, of which, the owner was calling us liars, always a delight.
I'm not sure how many 1st time guests spend $122 in this establishment, and if I were making a guess, I'd say they're struggling right now and have raised prices to cope with a downturn in business. Perhaps they are taking criticism of the food personally and the curt responses and unwillingness to listen is a result of stress and slow business. I understand that, but in the service industry, as much as it sucks and as cliche as it is, the customer is always right is 100% true. I don't mind spending $100 on fine dining, but this was not fine dining. This was a formerly great restaurant in a death spiral and I'd be shocked if this place is open another year. I really hate to see that, because I love non-chain restaurants that are local, established for years and have a loyal fan base. The way we were treated seems to be typical based on some other Yelp comments I've read here. It's a shame. I really wanted to like this place. The server was outstanding, he felt bad for the situation and apologized several times for his management. I still tipped him well because what happened weren't his fault.
There were some bright spots, my wife enjoyed her shrimp in butter sauce, my son loved the pizza, and I liked the twice baked potato side. Just can't look past the blatant misses on the deserts and the prime rib, and especially the attitude of the owner. I really hope they read this and decide to listen to customers rather than argue with them and accuse them of trying to get something for free.
