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| - I really wish this place was better. I'm having a hard time deciding whether this is 2 or 3 stars. On one hand, I was able to eat maybe 2 things on the menu, due to there being dairy on every dish. And they were integral to every dish. My apologies to my friends sharing plates with me. On the other hand, the atmosphere is cozy and fancy feeling, and the service was absolutely fantastic. They did everything they could with my dairy allergy.
We started with the deer carpaccio, which was undersalted and very earthy tasting. There were chocolate shavings that went with the dish that I couldn't have, but what I did have was bland and just tasted strange. I love raw/rare meat, so this was a surprise to me. My friends were pretty unexcited about it as well.
We had the seafood pasta, and someone said "where's the rest of it?" right when it hit the table. Oof. It was seriously a half portion of pasta. For sharing. So we each got maybe 5 noodles. The pasta was undercooked, well before al dente. The sauce and seafood were decent but didn't make up for the pasta.
Next up was the beef brisket, which was just disappointing. I could describe our piece as chalky. And the sauce, which had a huge description in the menu, basically tasted like a red wine glaze.
For dessert, everyone had some kind of dairy thing and I had the almond sorbet. It was good, not great. Kudos for having something that wasn't a simple bowl of fruit!
We also had the "friendship coffee", which is a seriously delicious coffee that comes in a kettle-like thing with many spouts. You pass it around with your friends and take a sip until it's gone. It was boozy and good. A total highlight of the night.
All in all, plates were very small and fell short of my expectations, particularly since my friend that invited me has been ranting about wanting to visit for weeks. It's also really pricey for the quality and quantity. The dairy-eating people may have a different experience, but this is a skip if you can't eat cheese or cream.
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