Noma used to be my favorite place to take visiting family and friends. I had made a reservation, but upon arrival they didn't have it and had to prepare a table for 3. At 7 on a Friday night we were one of two tables in the restaurant except for a few tables on the patio eating grilled burgers at an Asian fusion restaurant. We ordered a round of drinks and looked over what was once an exciting menu to see that it has now become quite boring. Another waiter came over and introduced himself and asked to take our drink order. We explained that someone was already helping us and he stormed off as if it was our fault out of two tables this one had already ordered. Previous visits is was hard to choose what to order because so many items looked good. Last Friday it was hard to choose what would actually make me happy to eat. I'm sure everything on the menu would be delicious, but there wasn't anything special that I would not be able to get anywhere else. We came to the conclusion that Noma was not the restaurant for us that night and apologized to our waitress that all we would be ordering was our drinks. She went to bring us our bill, and after a talk with the owner, he came over and took our plates right out from under us. I can't understand the hurry to remove them since there was no urgency to have three plates ready for our reservation. We looked over our bill and found that the Maker's Mark, that is labeled $7 on the drink menu, was $7, but had a second line at $2 for ""rocks"". No wonder the table water didn't have any ice! I'm a creature of habit and drink bourbon on the rocks at every bar or restaurant I go to and have NEVER been charged extra to have it served over ice. The staff was not friendly at all and obviously not happy to be there. I can't tell you how the food was this time around as we left before appetizers since the menu is in a deep coma. The $2 ice charge was appalling and leads me to believe they are struggling to stay in business. We paid our bill including the $2 fleecing without complaining just so we could get out of there as soon as possible. Ended up at a packed LaSalle grill and seated right away. We received exceptional service from Jason and we all had one of the best meals in recent memory. Take my advice, NOMA is a NO GO! I will not be back!
Pros: Beautiful building
Cons: poor service, boring menu for a fusion resturant
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