No, No, NO. So interested in great food and service, restauranteurs forget the basics. When eating out, its implied that I will not be poisoned, that I will be protected from the rain by a roof, that the employees will not mug me, right? Equally unstated, for a pricey restaurant, I expect a) to be seated (with a reservation) in a reasonable time, and b) to be able to talk to, and hear, my guests at dinner. Doesn't everyone? Is that too much to ask?\r
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The noise both upstairs and downstairs (at the bar) in this place (visited July 3, 4 persons) is intolerable. It begins with thoughtlessness by the owners, who, for instance, have covered the walls upstairs with porcelein subway tile and have nothing sound-softening elsewhere. So the place echoes and multiplies sound by its design. Then, since people have trouble hearing each other, they raise their voice, creating a snowballing cacaphony of shouting across the table. I could not hear the waitress, 4 feet away, list the specials. \r
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The management could solve this problem (for pete's sake, put a RUG on the the wall!) by paying attention to it and investing in simple noise abatement. Otherwise, the food and service are great, but you can't actually eat in this place, so maybe they should offer take-out. I'm sure that would be a success.\r
We were seated 40 minutes after our reservation.\r
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Oh, by the way....another thing a frequent patron of fine dining expects is that I CAN READ THE MENU. One of these days I am going to hand it to the service person and ask he/she to read it to me! The type is miniscule, the font is courier, the background color has little contrast, and the lighting is poor. Advice to owners: Fix this simple problem; so-what if the menu is 2 double pages instead of 1?
Pros: yeah food is great, service too
Cons: come alone with a book, earmuffs, binoculars and a flashlight
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