Ok, so I live in Springfield and prefer to eat the local restaurants. We have kids & my husband & myself enjoy nice dinners out alone at the many great local dining options. We have been diappointed at our 5 dining experiences here over the years. Our most recent visit for Easter brunch is the cause of never eating at this restaurant again. We had reservations (which upon getting there we didn't really need as it was over half empty) and we did have the kids with us. We kept it simple with the ""Giant waffle"" with bacon. It was a normal waffle you would expect, but one was large enough for the kids share. They ended up bringing us another tables waffles because the rest of their food was not ready. Ya for us, right? Upon spreading the butter on the waffles and pouring the ""maple"" syrup that came in little tear off the lid packages we realized how cold and already hard the waffles were. The butter didn't melt at all and the syrup (in those cheap little packages you expect at McD's & not a fine dining restaurant) was ice cold--that's how they serve it there. We looked for our waitress for over 10 minutes with no luck. Finally we asked another waitress if she could find our waitress, which never came but another did. After explaining the situation and asking if we could have fresh waffles & apoligizing to this poor waitress she took them away and promptly returned with the SAME plates of old waffles which they decided they would place in an oven for a few minutes to ""warm them up for us"". I was floored! I asked her if she was serious as she placed the blazing hot plates in front of my children saying ""now don't touch these plates because they are really hot!"". So now we are supposed to eat old reheated waffles on blazing hot plates that my kids are ultimately not allowed to touch without burning themselves. We kindly apoligized & said we would be leaving. The waitress seemed to not really care about any of this. We quitely put on our coats to leave and the owner came over to tell us he hoped we understood it was ""nothing personal"". What was that supposed to mean? Seemed an odd statement for the situation. Our other 4 dining experiences have always been a disappointment as well. They claim to have great steaks & pasta but both are a disappointment. Not a lot of authenticity to the pasta dishes and the steaks are nothing to write home about. Flame & Doe's Eat Place (both downtown) have fabulous steaks and this place can not begin to touch the pasta at Avanzarre's or Metropolitan Grill. Valentine's will be marked off our list forever now.
Pros: Easy to get in to
Cons: Food & service are always disappointing
more