My husband and I were looking for a romantic fine dining restaurant and Zola's was highly recommended. We found the atmosphere very nice, although slightly loud for our dining experience. Our dinners were outstanding and the suggested wine, complimented the meal perfectly. We felt the chef did a tremendous job. The problem we experienced, was that our waitress referred to the chef as ""she"" at least 2-3 times per sentence throughout the entire meal. Never did the waitress refer to her as ""chef"" or ""the chef"" (ie ""the chef has prepared... she accompanies..."" ) This we could deal with, as we have always had the waitstaff refer to the chef as ""chef"" then followed by he or she. At first we did not understand why this was happening, until we read the menu and noticed that the owner/chef is a female. This is wonderful, however, we really don't understand why this needed to be continually stressed to us to the point of spoiling the meal. We have enjoyed many fine dining restaurants throughout the US and Canada and been lucky to have wonderful meals prepared by both male and female chefs. The important thing is the food and the experience. I would hope that any chef would want their customers to enjoy and remember the food and the restaurant, not the gender of the person who prepared it. It is through hard work and perseverance that any chef can open a successful restaurant. Unfortunately, as the meal continued, as wonderful as it was, both my husband and I became extremely uncomfortable. In our opinion. a romantic dinner is not the place for a political statement regarding the gender of the chef. Instead of remembering the outstanding meal and wine we experienced at Zola's, we remember the extreme discomfort of having a waitperson who could not let the food speak for the chef's ability, but rather wanted the gender of the chef to alter our views.
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