I want to be fair to Forte, it was busy and most people seemed to be enjoying their meals so maybe my tastes are not the norm for usual repeat customers but I was not overly impressed with the flavor palate of the food.
But the two stars is about the service, or lack thereof. We made reservations specifying a birthday, that was ignored as were we for the first 10 minutes after being seated. Nothing came quickly, no apologies for the slow service and we had to ask for refills to our water 3 times before anyone brought us some. There was a large birthday celebration just beginning to set up while we were there and MAYBE that threw them off but then be aware of it and apologize to those who got bad service because of it. I didn't see anyone who could be called a manager there.
Our waitress was very knowledgeable about the menu and the food and recommended her favorites. She was from Russia and I trust that what we had would have been considered good by those familiar with the food.
The decor is funky but nice, the guy playing the guitar was reserved and nicely in the background but you can't excuse the slow service. And maybe the food was good just not up to my tastes and I do think I am adventurous.
Maybe the popularity of this place was the mention of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives which I didn't see but they promote their appearance on it a lot.
We won't be going back or recommending it to others.