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Review content:
My wife and I went to Michael Dean's last night for my company Christmas party, so to be fair I am rating the group dining experience and not the regular dining room. However, reviews of their food and service are still applicable (most of the menu item we were offered are on their regular dinner menu as well).
We almost didn't go to the party at all because my wife received such inattentive service when she called ahead to ask some questions about the menu. She has some food allergies and wanted to make sure that they were able to provide products that she can safely eat. She cannot eat dairy, soy or rice (a challenging combination of omissions, I'll admit). None of their standard starch items are suitable and they didn't seem to care enough to offer anything else. She inquired about a baked potato, but they said they don't bake potatoes (fair enough, I suppose, because I know that it takes time to do). Ultimately, we figured she could order fries so we decided to go.
Service at the restaurant itself was just as poor. My wife's food kept coming out wrong. The waiter (and the kitchen) clearly did not understand that she has to know what she is eating. I don't think the waiter himself even understood that butter is, in fact, a dairy product (for dessert, for example, she inquired whether there is butter in the pumpkin pie crust; he said he'd check and eventually served the pie which not only was served with whipped cream and a caramel sauce but we also eventually determined that the crust did indeed have butter in it -- it's a good thing they served the obvious dairy or she'd have eaten the pie assuming that the staff had paid attention to her question).
The kitchen apparently cannot make plain fries, so the only starch choice they could offer my wife was a fruit cup. Now, I do understand that dietary restrictions can be a challenge for the chef to accommodate, but we are used to decent restaurants making an honest attempt to get it right. Honestly, how hard is it to turn a plain potato into French fries? I've done it at home myself.
My shrimp and cognac bisque contained a single piece of shrimp (clearly fresh and properly cooked, so there's a plus). The bisque itself was certainly nothing remarkable. Our filet mignon was served cooked the way the chef wanted it prepared. We were not even asked how we would like it; they cook them to medium and don't even ask if that is OK. It's just the way they do it. I would have preferred mine medium rare, but as it was it was fine. Not great, and certainly not the best cut of meat I've ever had, but fine. My crab cake was edible, but was more bread than crab. My mashed potatoes had very little discernable flavor or texture.
On the plus side, the burgers they made for our two young boys were prepared exactly as we had asked and were quickly devoured so they must have tasted fine.
Dessert (for me, at least) was OK. Again, not outstanding, but not bad and certainly the best thing I ate all night. The boys had fruit cups for dessert because that's what they asked for. One was served IN A COFFEE MUG WITH A BROKEN-OFF HANDLE! When I pointed this out, the waiter took it away but couldn't seem to understand why I insisted that there had been no excuse for serving anything that way. That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen a restaurant do and at that point I guess I wasn't afraid to let him know that.
So, to summarize: You can get better food for less money; you'll get what they want to serve you and nothing more; staff as a whole is somewhere between inattentive and incompetent.
Do yourself a favor and eat somewhere else.
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