M. S.
Yelp
This place. Where to begin? Perhaps best to preface with -- I'm a lifelong foodie from Manhattan, NY who enjoys a good hole in the wall diner or tiny family owned ethnic restaurant, fine dinning where they magically appear and pull your chair out for you and fold your napkin when you get up to use the restroom, and the smaller gem of a neighborhood place with an exceptional chef that feels like home and draws people from all over the city. The Restaurant at Burdick's is none of these. Rather, it is an overly high priced ($21 for an exceedingly ungenerous and mediocre Caesar salad) place that has you pack up your own leftovers at the table. But that is in keeping with a general cold vibe and we're doing you a favor attitude conveyed by our server, who seemed to also be their hostess. It shouldn't take you nearly 10 minutes to return and tell me that the wine I ordered isn't available. Especially at 5:15 pm when you're not yet full. Then when I look uncertain about the alternative option and you say, I can let you taste -- well that word "let" says it all. You bring me a taste, then take it away to fill up the glass -- what? No, you should leave it for me to sip while you either bring me a full glass, or walk over with the bottle and fill the glass. Let's see, there are bread plates on the table with butter knives in tow, but no bread offered. Is the table setting just for show? Then, after 20 min when we ask for bread, she responds with, I can get you bread. If you're that inept (other tables had bread) best not to pair it with attitude. Just sayin'. To my non-meat eating request that the brussel sprouts be prepared without lardons, she returns from the kitchen with, we'll do that for you. Where's the sense that you're happy to accommodate me? When your entrees are $29-$39, there is a standard of service that's expected. That standard includes a sense that you're happy to accommodate me. The 3 tiny pieces of chocolate that come with the check are paired with, the chocolates are on the house. Literally, she said that! Wait, what?! What restaurant of such a pretense to be high end makes a point of telling you you're getting something for free? I guess that sums up the feel of the place, pretense. The message was repeatedly one of, we are doing you a favor. Not gracious. Not warm. If the front of the house makes the experience unpleasant, it matters little what you do in the kitchen.
On to the kitchen. We already covered the salad. The rest of the food was tasty, but nothing was special. Really not as good as they seem to be aiming for. The mussels were good, but the balance of wine to butter was really off, could barely taste a trace of the wine. Why with toasted bread and not frites? If you offer bistro fare, go classic. The chicken my daughter was served was also tasty, but inedibly dry in spots (my husband and she agreed on this). The accompanying potatoes were good. My husband ordered the cod. It too was good. But the accompanying broccolini was seriously undercooked. Oh, and on the menu it says that the accompanying green is broccoli rabe. Where did that error originate - a chef who doesn't know the difference (doubtful), or management that assumes that the patrons won't know the difference (arrogant of them) and therefore the server need not alert us to the substitution?
In sum, if this place could get it together with what's happening in the front of the house, the food (though not special and high priced) would be worth a visit. But -- save for the friendly, warm blonde woman with a nice sense of play who actually brought our food out to us -- the overall experience was unpleasant.
