I dined at Pear Street last Saturday night with a friend. While I found the tables filled with neon lights a bit visually overwhelming in the bar as we entered, the dining room is quite nice with linen covered tables and subdued lighting. The wall of candles by the kitchen is very pretty, but the giant pear "artwork" on one wall is garish and detracts from the overall feeling of relaxation.
The appetizer (fritto misto) was good though the calamari was chopped pretty small, making dipping into the wasabi aoili (yum) difficult. But I had a peartini to help me forget my difficulties - and it was delicious (if a tad overpriced at $10).
My friend enjoyed her ahi tuna entree, though at $33 it seemed pretty pricey for Pinole. I ordered the mac 'n cheese and a ceasar w/ chicken - both quite tasty, though the salad was pretty darn small - even if it wasn't ordered as an entree (sadly there is only 1 size available).
Where they REALLY fell down in my book was dessert. My friend ordered a cheesecake with a fruit compote/sauce. It was very nicely displayed, but tasted like it had been sitting in a stinky fridge for weeks. Dry, metallic and lifeless. And sadly our waiter - who pretty much stopped coming by after he slapped down the entrees, never bothered to ask why we hadn't eaten the dessert...you would think he would notice only 2 bites missing?
Overall not a great experience. If they'd lower their prices just a bit and step it up on quality and portion sizes they could knock it out of the park. Lord knows they have a corner on the fine dining market out there!
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