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| - I've wanted to try this place for a while - I frequent MoCa (a nice little coffee joint next door) and I've been curious. A Living Social voucher came up, so ok, I gave it a shot.
The service was fantastic - the staff were all friendly and attentive and I can't say enough nice things about them, but there were a few downbeats that kind of killed it for me.
One: The whole place smelled like bleach and cleaning solutions. Immediately upon entering the bar it hit my nose like a punch to the face. This smell was strong and overpowering, and affected my appetite, and possibly my taste. Yay for keeping the place clean, but that was just off-putting. Walking into a restaurant/bar with food, I expect to smell yummy food... not bleach.
Two: I expected a nicer experience and better ambiance based on the prices and the wine & martini bar idea - the table was wobbly (to the point of spilling a drink), and the acoustics inside are awful. There was a table of girls giggling, a little loudly but nothing more than you'd expect from a table of girls drinking wine, and the sound was amplified so much that my companion and I kept having to say "What?" when trying to have a conversation even though we were sitting less than a foot apart. It wasn't that crowded (there were several empty tables for the duration of our visit) but it sounded like it was a bar packed with drunks.
Three: The food was only so-so (we both had the bone in ribeye) and definitely would have been put off by the price of it if I'd not had the Living Social voucher to offset the cost. The steak itself wasn't awful, but not amazing either. I've had better ribeyes at diners for $12; at $22 I do expect just a bit more. The side dishes - mashed potatoes (that I think were supposed to be garlic, but there was very little garlic to be tasted if so) with a thin brown gravy and veggies - were bland and barely seasoned. It looked really pretty, but the flavor just wasn't there.
Four: The Riesling I had - Clean Slate, one which I've enjoyed elsewhere before - was a little off. Like it had been a bottle opened several days ago and left out warm, then chilled again. I'm giving them a little of the benefit of the doubt given the recent storms/trauma in the area (maybe they had power outages this week?). I'm trying to be a forgiving soul in light of that, but even still, if you opened the wine and then it got warm because of a power outage, toss it and claim it on the insurance, don't pass that off to the customers at $7 a glass. I will say the pumpkin martini my friend had was tasty and strong. Pity about the wine though.
One of the stars is for the service alone. Otherwise, this would be a much harsher review.
All that said, I am going to try them again, because they're close and they have a very cute patio that I'd like to try out - and I'll go for some of the small plates and appetizers next time rather than a dinner, with a different wine. I won't be in a hurry to go back though until warmer weather comes so I can enjoy the patio and know I won't have to smell bleach while trying to eat overpriced food and sit at a wobbly table where I can't hear the person sitting next to me.
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