this is going to be regarded as sacrilege. i went to dinner at craigie on main in november and had the 10-course tasting menu ($115). it cannot be said to be vastly-overpriced since the labour put into the food is clearly vast in quantity, and the nice new location and beautiful kitchen must be somehow paid for. yet, for my money, a tasting menu created under the direction of a chef should have coherence and structure. some will doubtless disagree that tasting menus have two purposes: 1) to allow the diner to try a range of preparations from the restaurant, more than would normally be possible, 2) to allow the chef the luxury (rare) of composing not only dishes in isolation from each other but dishes as components of a whole experience.
the dinner we had was abundant in quantity and rare ingredients and lavish in preparation but it was not coherent, at least not to me. win on 1, fail on 2. i give it 3 stars because it would be possible to compose an excellent meal there out of menu items (5 stars) but the thing i am reviewing (the 10-course tasting menu) is overpriced and fails to come through on one of its two deliverables (1 star, possibly).
(the bar at craigie on main, on the other hand, is a winner.)
Pros: the food is abundant and carefully-prepared
Cons: the tasting menu is incoherent
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