| rev:text
| - I am upping my review by one star, but I'm actually giving 3.5 stars.
The Fabulous Karen L. and I came here to eat the Snail and Rabbit Paella. We had plans for weeks to go, and Lo and Behold, despite the fact that their on line menu still listed this dish... the menu had changed and it was no longer available.
Needless to say we were a bit disappointed, but opted for the Duck and Date Paella. The Server was kind enough to offer to go in the kitchen and see if they could still make the Snail and rabbit, and chef Luis came out and apologized in person and offered to make us one with rabbit, mushrooms and artichokes. This did sound great, but we opted for the Duck. For starters, we had the fried green tomatoes which were served in a delicate tower layered with tomato and feta. These were both delicious and well presented. The Fried artichokes were a favourite of mine from the last visit and did not disappoint this time. We also had the peppers with tomato sauce and they were simple, but the tomato sauce was bright and had a nice acid balance with the bright green peppers.
The Chef returned to ask us if we wanted bread to sop up the tomato sauce. Yes, please.
Paella was very good. The duck was served as a confit leg on top of the wine soaked rice and a lovely seasonal offering of fava beans, sweet peas in the pod, chewy dates and dried apricot with fresh basil.
I initially thought that the basil overpowered the dish, but it proved to be a winning combination. I also loved the burned rice on the bottom. We scraped at that stuff for ages and it was worth the effort :)
Again, Chef Luis appeared to ask us if we liked the paella and we nodded that we enjoyed it very much.
Now, the lack of stars is for a couple of things. When I made the reservation, I asked for the booth. When I arrived, the person seating me did not acknowledge this and did not give me the booth. The booth sat empty for an hour and a half and they ended up seating two ladies there, so they weren't saving it for 4. If the host/server had at least lied to me and told me that the table was already reserved, I would have been okay with that. But there was no attempt to acknowledge or honour the request.
They charged me for 3 glasses of wine instead of 2. A mistake which they quickly fixed and I get that if two servers are helping your table, the likelihood of this happening is pretty high.
Overall, there is just something about the service and the vibe here that is lacking. Our server wasn't inattentive or rude, but not really very warm. I felt that the chef cared a lot more than the servers. I think that the food may be a bit more elevated here, but Torito takes the bull by the horns when it comes to great service and a more convivial environment.
The food takes the cake here. Thank you Chef Luis. You're a talented man who showed a lot of class tonight and took care of us very well.
I'm looking forward to hearing Karen's re-take on Carmen.
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