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| - I wanted to love The Mandrake, I truly did. But there were enough negatives to make me only like it, and probably not go back.
1) Décor was lovely - intimate lighting, good layout, friendly vibe. The only negative: Our table had a slightly intimidating plant next to it that hung over my head while we ate. Also, for a place that has tapas, I think they need bigger tables for tables of 2. Our table had not an inch to spare once our four dishes arrived to the table.
2) Staff was decent - our waitress was nice but seemed kind of out of it. We asked what dish she recommended and it took her a couple minutes to come up with something. My husband thought maybe she was new and didn't know the menu that well. She was attentive to our drinks and kept my water glass full, which I appreciated since...
3) The lobster mac and cheese was like eating a salt lick. WAY too salty. To the point of being unenjoyable. We finally just dug out all the lobster and left the pasta behind because the salt quotient was much less on the lobster, but extremely high on the mac and cheese.
4) The lamb meatballs were a big disappointment. We actually thought they had brought the wrong thing to our table, and checked with the waitress. She confirmed it was the meatballs, and my husband said, "It tastes more like a falafel than a lamb meatball." As a big fan of lamb, I can attest to the fact it tasted NOTHING like lamb. And nothing like meat. She went into the kitchen and confirmed with the chef that it was lamb meatballs (I'm sure he loved that).
5) The other dishes we got were great - we got the duck, which was delicious. And the starch served with the duck was outstanding - easily the best dish we had that night. We also got the pork bellies which were more like mini ribs than real pork bellies, but were delicious nonetheless. I got the French onion soup which was great.
6) Drink prices were good on the night we went - my husband got two beers for the same price as my one cocktail because they were running a special on the beer tap.
Overall, it's not a place I'd recommend, and it's not a place I'd return to, but it was a decent (but not great) meal during our night out.
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