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| - We wanted to like it, we really did! It's our 'hood, open Sunday nights, we've passed it for a year and finally got to try. We were seated even though we didn't have reservations so a good start. No bread brought to the table at any point. We ordered apps: bread w/melted mozzarella on a rosemary stick looked good; cheese wasn't melted. at all bread wasn't toasted. Grilled polenta: too thick but ok. Beet salad: very good, whew! Greens and beans: way too spicy. Couldn't finish it because chili overwhelmed everything. Now the mains: I ordered 2 salads, the kale salad dressing was cloyingly sweet and the brussel sprout salad was a tower with candied pecans (which the kale salad also had) and a mustard dressing that tasted only of mustard. My companions liked their pizzas though though my son wondered about the quality of the cheese on his. Everything took forever to arrive. Our pizzas stood on the counter while we wondered who might bring them until we simply asked the waitress if she could bring them before they got any colder. Our warm molten chocolate cake was glumpy and gluey and not served warm; it was missing the "artisanal hazelnut sorbet" and when we asked, our waitress came back with a bowl of strawberry ice cream with no explanation; not even nicely scooped. The table next door also inquired about their missing sorbet and by the time we left they still hadn't even gotten a strawberry ice cream bowl.
The owner Kris is charming and she really tried hard. She even removed the dessert from our bill when we explained about the sorbet disappointment. We have kids in the restaurant industry and we really understand the glitches a restaurant can go through. It was our server's first week and she was pretty "green", but we were patient. This place has so much potential: a charming exposed brick interior, nicely decorated, a warm neighborhood feel. If it "pumped up" its menu and added some soup, some non-pizza mains (a meat dish, a fish du jour) and watched the cook's tendency to over-spice, it could improve. The pizzas are their strong point and they are imaginative and good. We'd like to come back in the summer and see if they have worked out the glitches.
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