Derek surprised me with a dinner at Notable with my family for my birthday this year and it was our first time trying this restaurant. The restaurant was very busy, which is to be expected for a Friday night, and therefore very loud so I think next time we go it'll be a weeknight when it might be quieter or earlier in the evening. Derek had booked a month in advance and the earliest reservation he could get that night was at 7pm so it is definitely an evening you need to make arrangements for very far in advance.
For appetizers the four of us shared the smoked scallop and shrimp bake and the elk carpaccio. The elk carpaccio was awkward - not enough crostini with LOTS of watercress, however the parmesan aioli and white wine mustard were delicious, and the carpaccio itself was delicious. The dish could just use a little tweaking to make it easier to share without a huge mess of greens everywhere. The shrimp and scallop bake came out bubbling hot. It was super creamy with lots of shrimp. It could use more scallops but my family loves them so we always want more, even when we cook them ourselves.
For mains we had asked the server if there were 4 portions left of the prime rib and unfortunately he forgot to check so we'd had to remind him, but at least when he finally did check for us there were 4 left so we were able to snag them before someone else did. The portion sizes were enormous. It came with a square of scalloped potato and some vegetables. The vegetables were good and the potato was delicious. The prime rib was really good, perfect medium rare, but so big that we all took leftovers back to my place where Derek and I had steak sandwiches for two days afterwards. We didn't have room for dessert we were so stuffed.
I'd love to go back, but I definitely think a weeknight would be better so we could talk without yelling at each other.