Bea T.
Yelp
Now why would I give three stars to a restaurant that has a good rep in Concord..... Service! We came to this location because we had gone to the Seaport location for my birthday which was a top-notch experience so with that said, I assumed that the Concord location would just be equally good or possibly better. The good part was that the food was very decent but different from the seaport location... For one the portions were bigger and more traditional. The restaurant was definitely comfortable and more laid back but there were a lot of aspects that were lacking.
Service: Who's on First?
We had a welcoming host and we were seated comfortably. The server's assistant was very sweet and welcoming so I just took that person as our server and when we were ready to order our food, we learned that that he wasn't our server. Our server (Server I) finally arrived and took our order he seemed very polite and knew the menu quite well but then all of a sudden, he disappeared! And I get that it got a little busy but there was ZERO follow up from him and even forgot to give my husband his drink. So we had to flag him down the whole time. No, it wasn't crazy busy but I could see that this man was training somebody else but didn't check on us at all and this other server (Server II) asked us how things were and we clearly didn't start our entrees...if there was a changing of the guards no one said anything. Server I seemed busy and in fact, I saw him sit down at the table for a while (is this normal at a restaurant of this caliber?) where he seemed to know the clients WELL and was very attentive and huggy to them. Look, I'm all about being friendly to people you personally know but dude you have a job to do and your tip percentage went down. There was no follow-up of ,"do you want coffee" or "can I get you anything else'" and in fact another non-enthusiatic non- smiling server assistant asked if we wanted dessert and we had already ordered dessert from flagging Server I who seemed to be busy with his friends. Then Server II just handed our bill without even asking us if we need anything else. This experience was a great disappointment for me. It seemed that there was a lot of summer help with no smiles. I couldn't tell if there was a Manager on site but nobody checked up on us and that was especially disappointing with the food selection we ordered. It is my opinion that there needs some serious improvement here in training. It was unprofessional. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem having a more casual environment but my experience in a diner was much more attentive than this place.
Now the food: The Saving Grace
I have to admit that the food was good. For starters, I liked the welcome artisan bread, my charred rabe and the beet salad was delicious. My husband ordered the Steak Frites and that was a delicious dish and perfectly cooked medium rare. The corn risotto was simple but good. My rack of lamb was cooked perfectly at medium rare but to be honest the sides were not my cup of tea. I didn't mind the chard green peppers but that pickled relish garnish cheapened the quality of the meat which was placed on some sort of sour cream that made the meat taste slightly chalky. The lamb was good and cooked perfectly so I didn't seem to mind it but this dish should be sticking with good old traditional mint sauce. And what's with the non-sharpened knives!? I swear it was like cutting meat with a butter knife! Finally, the mocha dome was good if you're a chocolate fan but it almost look like a tartufo with not overly sweet chocolate mousse.
I hate giving lousy reviews but I have to be honest because I really believe that this could have been a perfect experience but it service was a huge let down. Sad considering I had a great birthday celebration at the seaport location.