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| - My husband & I decided to have our Valentine's dinner last night to avoid the set menus offered by most restaurants on Valentine's day. We had originally chosen & made a reservation at Blu but then chose Il Mulino based on its fantastic reviews & menu choices. My husband & I were really looking forward to this dinner & a chance to have a quiet evening alone together.
The restaurant's decor IS very nice. The arched ceiling & chandeliers make it a beautiful location for special occasions & the tables being well spaced apart makie it a lovely spot for couples to have a romantic dinner. We arrived at 7:30 p.m. and were, at that point, one of six couples in the place.
Our waiter, Fernando, promptly came to our table with a basket of a delicious Rosemary toasted bread. We decided to order a bottle of wine to accompany our meal. Their selection of wines was vast offering many choices from different regions around the world. The Italian red wine list alone was nine pages long though most bottles were over $100. We decided on the 2010 Chianti "Riserva" Sensi ($67) which was perfect for our dinner choices of Agnello del Fornaio $44.95 (Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb in a Pommery Mustard Sauce) & Lombata Di Vitello $38.95 (12 oz Grilled Veal Chop with Roasted Shallots & Port Reduction).
We started our meal splitting the appetizer Mozzarella e Pomodori
$16.95 (Fresh Bufala Mozzarella, Vine Ripened Tomatoes and Fresh Basil Drizzled with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a Balsamic Reduction). It was very good BUT we were quite surprised at the portion size, Considering the price, we were expecting more than three small slices of tomato & cheese. A disappointing start to an even more disappointing meal to come.
After some time, our main course arrived. The vegetables were done to perfection & the sauces on both the veal & lamb were delicious. Although both meats had a nice flavour, both were rather tough & the lamb was underdone. I asked for medium rare but some parts of my lamb were almost raw while the rest was very rare. If the waiter had bothered to come back to the table & asked how our meals were, we would have mentioned it but at that point the restaurant was getting very busy & we were having a hard time flagging him down. We were starting to feel ignored & quite frankly invisible, not something one expects at a restaurant of this calibre.
At around 9 p.m. we asked for a dessert menu. And yes, we had to flag the waiter down to ask as we were still being ignored. I ordered a cappuccino & chocolate biscotti & my husband also ordered a biscotti, The waiter brought my cappuccino & after about 15 minutes we wondered whether he had forgotten about the biscotti. I had wanted to have the biscotti with my cappuccino which by that time I had finished. The waiter said it would be out soon but that it takes time? At that point I assumed they must be baking the biscotti fresh or that they presented it in some special manner. Moments later the waiter brought the two biscottii, They were nothing special, similar to biscotti one gets from Starbucks. Perhaps they needed time to thaw?
By 9:30 p.m. we had had enough so asked for the bill. We dine out a lot & usually leave at least a 20% tip. When we choose to dine at a finer establishment, we expect a level of service to match. We did not get that level of service so tipped accordingly,
The evening had started out great but quickly went downhill. As we left I felt very upset that we had just spent over $200 of our hard earned money on a mediocre dinner & poor service. I know this restaurant gets rave reviews & maybe we just hit it on a bad night. In any case, we won't be back anytime soon.
Thanks Il Mulino for making this years Valentine's dinner one we would rather forget!
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