I was really excited when I heard Artemis opened in my neighborhood. It's my favorite type of place... small, cozy and inviting. I went there with a group of 4 on a Friday night. We were told that the wait would be about 45 min. The bar was full, so the owner engouraged us to go to another place to have a drink, and he said he'd call our cell as soon as the table was ready. An hour and a half went by with no call. Finally, we wandered back to Artemis and he told us we were still on the list, and it would be another 15 min. No big deal, it was Friday and we weren't in a hurry. Still, he clearly sat other people before us and never intended to call us. \r
When we were seated, we ordered a bottle of champange. It came, was poured and the bottle left on the table. They didn't have an ice bucket to keep it chilled, which seemed odd for an upscale restaurant. Next, we ordered food. We got several small plates and a couple of large plates to share. We really wanted to try the frites, so asked if we could get a side order. (they come with the burger and the steak). We were told that just wasn't possible. Again, really odd since they had them there, but just wouldn't sell them to us. We went ahead and ordered the burger. It came with blue cheese and I can't eat blue. I asked for it without the blue, and was told that the waitress really wasn't sure it was possible. (now, the cheese was on TOP of the burger, not mixed in). I was really shocked that it would be a problem to not put the cheese on top. She said she'd see what she could do and that was the last I heard of it. Until the burger came. With blue cheese. She told me she'd told the kitchen and gave a little, uh, sorry. No offer to take the burger back and fix it. Many of the dishes were great,(meatballs, beet salad) but on some, the spice was way overdone (chicken tagine and seared tuna). All in all, a nice place to spend an evening, but they REALLY need to pay attention to the details or they're not going to make it.
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