| rev:text
| - This was the most underwhelming dining experience I've had in quite some time. We were very excited to try this place after hearing great reviews from friends, etc. To say that this restaurant is overrated is spot on. Service was terrible - server had very little knowledge of the menu and wine list.
From the time we walked in the door we were rushed through our meal even though the restaurant was half-empty (on a Friday night - very telling). We received our drinks after our appetizer, and the entrees ordered which the server gave rave reviews, were severely lacking in flavor - a little salt would go a long ways and the chef obviously didn't taste the dishes before they were served.
The fish (branzino) was over-cooked and very oily - nothing like described, and the pappardelle was raw (yes, I know the difference between al denté and raw - this was raw) and very doughy with poor flavor. The lamb was also lacking salt and may have been palatable if it were provided, but there was none on the table and our server was nowhere to be found, acting so timid because she knew we were unhappy with the flow of our dinner and lack of expertise regarding the wine list. It was like a 3rd string quarterback was put in the game to serve our party of 4.
Dessert was chosen based again on the recommendation of the server and when it arrived on the table, the presentation was so unpalatable it looked like we were served a pile of something that came out of the rear end of an animal. Again, nothing like the server described.
The ambience was loud, hard to carry on a conversation, and while eating a woman fell off of her high-top chair and no staff even took a second look or asked if she was ok. She was not drunk but was wearing a long, formal dress and it caught on the chair she was on - very poor decor and dining design.
For the price we could have gone to any chain restaurant and had better service and much better food. Very, very, very disappointed!!! Don't waste your time, there's better dining experiences in Madison!! It almost seemed like the ambience was supposed to make up for a lack of service and terrible food, but although it was pleasant, the ambience was far from fine dining.
Pic of the abysmal chocolate poo dessert is attached - the chef and owners should be embarrassed to serve this.
|