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| - Friday with zero reservations and the place was packed, no problem I'll grab a drink upstairs whilst waiting. I understand that Duckworth's upstairs is 'different' than the Cellar, but the service whilst waiting upstairs was awful. Literally had to flag down a waiter at the bar to get a drink menu, then again it was a struggle to get a waiter to bring the bill once the Cellar texted us. Kind of unacceptable when you have 5-6 staff members chatting at one end of the bar for almost 5 minutes, instead of checking in with customers. My friend physically had to wave them down, not cool.
Due to the lackadaisical service upstairs, it took us a few minutes to get downstairs and the hostess didn't seem pleased that we were 'tardy'. Not exactly how I want to start a dining experience in terms of negative body language and clear nonverbal cues she is perturbed. Lucky the bartender Dave was amazingly friendly and provided excellent service a welcome reprieve from the lackluster experience upstairs. The atmosphere as others has mentioned is cozy and perfect for a date night or work function. I wouldn't say it is a speak easy-esque establishment as others have stated, the vibe isn't intimate enough to describe it in that way. But it is definitely an upscale dining/drinking atmosphere which is a nice change of pace compared to many places in CLT.
Ordered the tuna tartare to start which was a tad bit on the salty side. The guacamole was teeming with too much salt, but the fish was fresh so overall it wasn't too bad. My friend ordered the Duck pasta dish which he seemed to enjoy, but I didn't particularly care of the heavy cream. My scallops were sweet and well cooked, but again the chorizo/corn mix was just way too salty.
After reading so many great reviews on Yelp for this place, I had high expectations for this establishment. Maybe we just got them on a bad night, but for the price point definitely expect food that is seasoned a bit more evenly and more welcoming service from the FOH.
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