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Review content:
I took my girlfriend here for Valentines Day based on an email from Citysearch featuring the restaurant and the great reviews that have been given here.
I found the place fairly easily and parked using their free valet service (they drive very fast in reverse, people were laughing nervously as they watched their cars get backed up to them at full speed when we were leaving). We sat on the patio, which was enclosed by clear plastic, but it was still kind of cold despite the heaters. The waitstaff eventually closed off the openings they were using to come in and out. I felt sorry for them having to unstick Velcro while holding a large tray of food.
The service took a very long time, and while it is understandable that having a packed house could make the service slow, one would think having a pre-fixe menu would speed things up. This was a five course meal, with three of the courses having two choices and the entree having three choices. I also do not think it being a full house or having a fixed menu should affect knowing which table ordered what meal and in what order. There was a big problem with the servers not being able to identify what course belonged to what table. The dinner took about three hours from being seated to asking for the bill (the bill came out quickly).
Despite the long wait times, the waitstaff was very friendly if not a bit flustered. When the food finally did come out, it was presented well, but tasted ok. The wine list looked good, but we didn't order wine and their cocktail menu is very limited (no pear vodka?). Our first course, the amuse-bouche, was a cute little scallop/shrimp thing on a small cracker. It tasted alright for a one-biter. For the second course I ordered the scallop and my girlfriend ordered the beet salad. Both were fairly bland. The scallop was a bit dry and the beets didn't have all that much flavor. All-in-all very plain. Next course we both had the soup. It was this potato cream soup with truffle and it was delicious. It felt good going down considering the cold night, but it also had the right amount of zest and spice. We both enjoyed that one. Next came the main course. We both got the Beef Tenderloin, although in hindsight, I wish I had gotten the Alaskan Salmon instead. The meat was warm, not hot and more chewy than I believe it should have been, but I did like the root vegetable mash that the steak was situated on, tasted close to mashed potatoes, but I liked pointing out the vegetable I could taste in it. It was a little game between us. Finally we had dessert. My girlfriend got the apple one that was like apple pie a la mode, and I had a very lemony desert with a citrus broth that grew on me. Both desserts were great.
The restaurant threw in a couple nice touches for Valentine's including a very long stem red rose for each lady. The bill came out with a small chocolate heart with Happy Valentine's Day written on it and the letter R (presumably for Raymond - though my girlfriend, who's name also starts with an R, insisted the chocolate was hers. I still ate most of it).
In conclusion, I found the waitress and the staff to be very pleasant and friendly, the food was slug and miss (citysearch won't let me use the word I was going to use - three letters to replace slug), the disorganization and time to table was very disappointing.
Pros: Friendly Staff, nice small touches
Cons: quality of food, disorganization, time getting food to table
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