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| - My husband and I had a groupon which was about to expire and decided to hit up Brasserie 33 for a Saturday night meal. French being my favorite cuisine, I was very excited about the evening. The long and short of our experience is that it was a mixed bag on both food an service. The bad was not really so terrible that I would not recommend or never eat here again but enough to keep it from being a favorite.
When we first arrived we were seated at a nice but cramped table. My husband later switched seats because you would have needed to be an anorexic 12 year old to be able to sit in it with a normal sized adult seated at the table which backed up to you. That was not really that big of a deal since we were only 2 at a 4-top but it was a little annoying. The restaurant has a nice casual feel to it, it is narrow but does not feel uncomfortable and business seems to be good, the place was pretty full.
So we are now seated and without any menus... for maybe 5 minutes. I really did not understand why the guy who seated us just didn't shove a couple menus on the table. This is where I should mention that we were given a small basket of bread and butter. I really would have expected a better quality baguette considering it is a French restaurant - this tasted pedestrian and pretty much what you would pick up at Giant Eagle.
For an appetizer we split an order of escargot... traditionally prepared in a garlic, butter and parsley sauce. I've eaten escargot a ton of times on both sides of the atlantic and this was, hands down, the worst iteration of this dish I have ever had. The snails had a very mushy texture and the dish had no flavor at all. This was the first time I have never finished an order of escargot. Really terrible.
Then we wait... and wait... and wait about 45-60 minutes, 2 refills on the bread, and apologies from the waitress about how the kitchen is small etc... and finally just as it was getting to be absurd, our entrees arrive. I had the coq au vin and my husband ordered the seafood pasta which as special of the day. Both were lovely and met expectations. I really enjoyed the rich sauce and the meat fell off the bone. I tried a mussel and calamari ring from the pasta dish - nice favor, the calamari was a tad rubbery but overall the dish was great and he really enjoyed it.
So riding high from the entrees and overhearing the dessert menu at another table, we decided ordered dessert... tarte tatin and I ordered an espresso and my husband also ordered a coffee drink. His coffee arrives... and it seemed my espresso was forgotten. I reorder it with the lady who dropped his drink and we wait and wait and finally, it arrived... but where is the dessert? Oh, that will be a few more minutes. Meanwhile, coffees are getting cold. Ugh... I had a feeling dessert would be like this.
Finally the tarte tatin arrives... oh, it is fantastic and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was just at that perfect point of decadence without being too rich. We were really pleased. It paired well with the coffees that were pretty meh on their own.
All in all it is a place to get a nice meal but be prepared to wait. The next time I come I think I would go for one of the mussel dishes - the ones being delivered to neighboring tables looked amazing... I would also avoid at all costs another round of escargot... completely a waste.
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