Mixed experience. The downside is a shame, because it is a simple fix- Robert Irvine's nickel and dime's customers to an outrageous extent. We sat at the bar and had a slightly ornery yet fantastic bartender that we enjoyed. You could tell from chatting with him that that he feels walled in a bit by the curmudgeonly nickel and diming that takes place at this really nice space. One example- we had a fantastic appetizer that was almost like a deconstructed grilled cheese (it was called something like a french onion fondue). There was quite a sizable amount of the fondue, but not enough of the excellent thinly-sliced crostinis (unless you little doused them in a disgusting amount of the fondue). We only ate about 1/2 of the fondue and then asked if we could each get one crostini more- we were told it would be 5$ extra for a basket of them and the bartender seemed quite embarrassed by this fact. It was already 14$ for the appetizer. A great resto wants customers to be satisfied, and wasting 1/2 the appetizer because you are so cheap to not give enough bread to complete it is just off-putting and made us not want to return which is too bad because the bartender was excellent and the appetizer tasty as can be. The bartender's attention to detail with drinks was A+ quality! He surely was a craft cocktail bartender.
There is also no Happy Hour and the bar was highly empty on a Saturday in April. I wonder if others are also put off by the nickel-and-diming. Something must be off because the space is really nice...not sure we'll be back.