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| - My wife and I came here to Sage last night. We had great hopes, having read the great reviews, but we left disappointed.
First, we arrived 8 minutes early, but the "too hot" hostesses refused to seat us. "I'm sorry, we're seating on time this evening. Why don't you grab a drink at the bar. We will get you when your table is ready." We chose instead to walk for a couple minutes, but when we returned, even though we were still early, they sat us right away. It was obvious they were pushing people to the bar to buy drinks before they sat down.
Second, we had one good appetizer and one we didn't like at all. The market oysters were great, prepared with piquillo pepper and tabasco sorbet. Probably the high point of our meal. The low point was the much heralded foie gras custard brulee. We love foie gras, and since it is now illegal in California, we had been looking forward to trying this dish. We thought it was strange, soupy and inedible. Our server asked us if we liked it, we said no, and while encouraging us to try it with more bread, she acknowledged that not everyone likes it. Each of us only had a bite, but the server never said another word about it. No offers to bring another appetizer - no apologies, no nothing, just indifference, and $25 on the bill.
Third, our entrees were fine. My wife had the Morro Bay Black Cod, which was perfectly cooked with a beautiful "bar" of pumpkin flan and deliciously chewy pancetta. I had the kobe skirt steak, which was good too, but the sweet potato puree and pecan-brown butter vinagrette that were both supposed to come with the dish were just drizzles under the pile of sliced meat - there was barely enough to get the meat wet much less add much flavor.
We finished with the caramelized layer cake - good flavors but it tasted old and stale. Plus the crumbled slice looked like it was cut by our toddler. We wondered if they scraped together the last bits of cake from the night before.
OK, so the bottom line is that for us Sage didn't live up to its reviews and its price point. It was pretentious and overrated, and for $250 for two, we expected better.
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