12/31/08

Good Ambiance, Excellent Service & Delicious Food!

by nakali

Excellent Bar, good wine menu, tasty appetizers & very good seafood pasta dish. Their service was the Best!

01/02/07

BEYOND, BELOW BAD SERVICE

by caroldorn

How do you get a '94' rating out of 12 reviews, FOUR of which were bad....??!!

You be the judge: I reserved, at noon, 12/31, for 12/31. Told them we wanted a table for sure, so when do they open. Told 4:00, so we took a table at four, for three.

Their instruction on the phone, told me the wrong name of the parking area, cost us :25. to find the parking.

4:25 arrival, place not-quite-set-up. With no other reservation till 5:00, they said, they'd decided not to open till then, we don't mind waiting till then to eat, do we??

I glanced at the stocked bar, "Just open the bar...??" Oh, no! "Our ice tray at the bar isn't even filled!!!" our 'host' trumped me with.

SEAT US ??!! - implying concern for our comfort??!! They wedged us 3 into the 2 chairs in the waiting area, even confiscating the chair one of us had dragged over, to sit on!! We should just stand there, and try to be inconspicupous, since we clearly were in the way.

Seated at 5, (they did bring us one round, gratis): 3 course is 49.-, 4 course is with dessert and 59.-. Begging off on deciding on if dessert, waitress asked us THREE times which of the all 2 desserts they had, we wanted

The hors d'oeuvres arrive - cold. The first course out of the kitchen for the night, arrives cold. The scallops were good, the bisque tasted of something un-bisque-like - melted plastic??.

The filet mignon arrived m-rare as ordered, but tasting of cinders, beyond smokey. I'd asked for the parmesan polenta to replace the potatoe. The waitress made it clear :probably not possible. I did get it, but she never mentioned it.

Arriving at home, my phone message says the "Miscommunication" between chef & desk meant 5, 4:30 earliest. Their later comment that they'd "decided' to wait till 5 because of the light early booking, made that a lie. We live in Long Beach, 50 mins from them - they'd called at 18 mins before 4:00, and I guess changed their mind on the 4:30 seating, even after that.

• Pros: decent food - badly served
• Cons: Have no conception of hospitality, awful service

10/31/06

Friendly service and charming outside seating

by ldedalus

While staying next door at the Omni, my wife I stopped in last Friday night looking for a dinner salad and glass of wine. We were prepared to sit at the bar, but sat outside by the fountain as the restaurant (and downtown) was deserted. The scampi and ceasar salads we had were both good and the service friendly and attentive. It was a charming spot in the sunken plaza below MOCA and the street. While having an extensive wine list they offer few choices of quality by the glass which was disappointing. Otherwise, it was a good find that we plan on visiting again when we are in town to try some of the interesting choices we saw being ordered from the menu.

• Pros: Friendly and Accomodating Service
• Cons: Few wine choices by the glass