I have friends who absolutely love Spago and continually rave about the short ribs. So when another friend came into town for the weekend, I decided we should try it out based on their recommendations.
I knew Spago was going to be pricy, but every dish was about $10 more than I was expecting still. A dish I expected (based on similar surrounding restaurants) to be about $35 was $45 and this was true across the menu. Because of that, we had to skip our appetizers.
I had the short rib and my friend had the lamb chops. My short ribs were good, but didn't live up to the expectations I had (which were admittedly high). The flavor was great but they were the fattiest short ribs I've ever had so I had to cut large sections out.
My friend's lamb chops were fantastic but they came with risotto. This is when things went downhill. The risotto was forgotten at first. They then admitted the mistake and brought some risotto. However, the risotto they brought after they forgot it was undercooked - noticeably undercooked. We complained and they took it back and brought some new risotto. it seemed to be the same risotto but a helluva lot hotter. Maybe they just undercooked a large batch of risotto and scooped out some more undercooked risotto or maybe they just zapped it in a micro. We gave up on the risotto.
The service was another issue. The chef came out briefly and said how was our meal. He said this before we had gotten any food so he just turned and walked away. Very awkward. And we never had the same waiter. It was someone different doing everything so when we had the issue with the risotto it was very difficult to correct it.
Maybe it was an off night, everyone I talk to seems to love it, and the food wasn't bad, just nowhere near as good as expected. But for that price, you shouldn't have an off night like that.