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| - I decided to give this restaurant a try after receiving a gift certificate as part of a cooking class and was less than impressed with the quality of both the food and service. To be fair: My partner and I are from a coastal region accustomed to high quality seafood and we ordered the two specials, ahi tuna and crab stuffed shrimp, in disregard of the basic seafood restaurant wisdom indicating that specials are often attempts to sell fish about to spoil and one should avoid them at all costs. These dishes, while not on the verge of spoiling, were nothing special despite the upscale price tag and left us unenthusiastic about Mr. Wholey's establishment.
The tuna was prepared "asian style" which meant slightly over cooked and bathed in some sort of bitter sauce reminiscent of cheap teriyaki. This was served with absolutely fantastic wasabi mashed potatoes and expertly prepared bok choy. It was hard to overlook the fact that the chef overdressed a cut of fish that demands simplicity and in the process, destroyed the delicate flavor I was attempting to purchase. My partner's dish was an improvement in that shrimp will take a chef's liberties a little kinder and featured another rendition of the great mashed potatoes I found on my plate. The crab failed to transform the shrimp, as the name indicated it would, and could have been otherwise better employed. We declined desert based on the weakness of our entrees but must say that the mashed potatoes were memorable.
The service was moderate to poor. I worked as a waiter for a couple years and consider myself sympathetic to the occupation and the skill it entails. Our server seated us next to one of the glass garage doors lining the restaurant face. This would have been fantastic had this door been open, allowing the pleasant summer evening to breeze over our table. The door was not open and thus subjected us to a greenhouse affected micro-climate in which both of us began to sweat in the direct sun despite the pleasant temperature outside. I know from experience that patrons are evenly distributed by a host/hostess to the sections assigned to each server and that our seating was not the server's fault. Yet why the server would not open the doors and take advantage of the day is either the result of a lack of skill and/or intuition or poor management. Service 101: comfort of the patron is paramount. Our server seemed to ignore this environmental negative (and the potential to turn it into a positive) despite having to shield her eyes from the sun when addressing us. She chastised our use of the gift certificate after our meal and indicated that she would use it as a favor to us but typically this would not be okay. To clarify: Luke Wholey was due as a guest instructor at a cooking class we paid for and did not show up, sending the gift certificates as a reparation. It was in no way acceptable for her to question a valid use of Mr. Wholey's self-serving consolation. I can only assume her hesitation to use the certificates was out of concern for her tip (perhaps she thought we would think the amount due after the certificate was our total in a tip calculation). Since she must have been capable of reading the clearly stated premise indicated on the certificate itself I am left to imagine that she is used to people tipping poorly and wished to avoid continuing this trend with us.
My final note concerns the bar menu. Myriad are the restaurants at which I can overlook lapses in cuisine or service so long as the bar is strong. Wholey's makes an attempt at a draft beer list with a few solid craft brews in among the tasteless masses and has several attractive bottled offerings. The cocktail menu features anticipated twists on standards but fails to indicate the presence of a genuine mixologist. The cucumber collins thoroughly proved that suspicion. This dry take on a tom collins featured fresh cucumber and utilized hendrick's, one of the finer spirits of this ilk. How one manages to f*#k up a cocktail with such a fine gin is beyond the scope of my understanding. A warm lemon soda water with cucumber is not an acceptable refreshment.
I will not return to Luke Wholey's Wild Alaskan Grille. Pittsburgh may be too far from the sea (much less Alaska) to foster a great seafood restaurant or perhaps I just went to the wrong place. However, Wholey's failures went well beyond the plate and indicate that a systematic or managerial fault may be in play: Poor service, poor bar-tending, and poor environment compound as issues that are unlikely to be resolved any time soon.
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