Cameron L.
Yelp
Don't bother coming for breakfast.
I went for breakfast on a Sunday morning, to take advantage of a "free April breakfast" deal mailed to us, and to see how the food/service has changed since I last was a member. My girlfriend and I were members some years ago, but opted out after a while, mostly because the food at the restaurant was extremely hit and miss. We rejoined this year to take advantage of the downtown health club facility, so we were looking forward to a new experience at the Summit Avenue location's restaurant. Things have not changed, unfortunately.
First, my expectations for service and food quality are pretty high, given that the facility is upscale, gorgeous, has a long history of service and hospitality, and that it is related, management-wise, to W.A. Frost, which has exemplary service. The service at the U Club is in no way close to that at W.A. Frost, however. It is also related, chef-wise to Frost, as the Executive Chef at the U Club is a former chef at Frost.
We arrived one Sunday mid-morning (10 AM), and were eventually greeted and seated in a mostly empty dining room. There were two other tables seated, one of which left shortly after we arrived. We were poured water and coffee very quickly, but then left alone for about 10 minutes with our one page menus. We eventually ordered, and were again left alone for about 15 minutes. I did finally flag our server down for more coffee, and he left, and must have had to go to a different part of the building for it, as it was another 5 minutes or so before he returned with it. Then another 20 minute wait. I finally did catch the eye of another employee, whom I asked to locate our server, so I could find out if the restaurant had, in fact, opened the kitchen for the day. The server arrived and promised to go see what the delay was. He came back with our food, which in all fairness, was pretty good. However, it was not a ton of food, and it was not hard to prepare, or shouldn't have been if executed properly. I have no idea what the delay was, but we didn't begin to eat our breakfast until about 50 minutes after ordering it, and this in an empty restaurant.
Add this unacceptable delay to the horrible, uncomfortable dining room chairs, and the complete non-participation of our server in our dining experience, and what you get is a bad restaurant. There isn't any other way of putting it.
A fellow member and friend had almost the exact same experience a couple of weeks ago, only their wait was over an hour. For breakfast. In an empty restaurant.
The facility itself is beautiful, the views from the restaurant are spectacular, the location is close to everything, the clientele pay to belong.... There is so much going for this place, that to have it under-perform the way it does is baffling and unfortunate. In my humble opinion, if Robert Crew (Manager) were to pay a bit more attention to this property, it might begin to catch up to W. A. Frost.
