My wife and I have driven past Cafe Notte so many times. We've vowed to give the restaurant a try. Finally, on a date night that coincided with an errand a few doors down from this place, we gave it a shot for dinner.
Why did we ignore all the signs? My wife called to make a reservation for dinner and was directed to their website. The website reservation system wasn't working properly yesterday. She called back and left a message - and that call was returned a whole day later confirming the dinner we (regrettably) already had the night before.
The website also advertised a happy hour that ran until 7pm. When we tried to order drinks, we were told happy hour ended 30 minutes ago. Our waitress had to prove to the bartender that their website was in error by toting my wife's iPhone over to the bar to settle the dispute (looks like the website has been fixed since last night). The happy hour discount on my wife's glass of wine was probably the only win for us of the evening.
We sat outside with a picturesque view of Ohio River Boulevard.
The service was very good - but not good enough to make up for the food we were served. This turned out to be a costly lesson in not ignoring your gut when it seems like you are walking into a restaurant that might not be all that well run.
Here's what we ordered:
Bowl of lobster bisque ($10) - lighter than you'd expect a bisque to be. A trace amount of lobster in there - probably the minimum amount of lobster in order to call it a lobster bisque in good conscience. Sadly, the best part of the meal.
Blackened salmon ($24) - my wife's entree. Seasoning was good. But the salmon was more burnt to a crisp on the outside and it tasted vaguely watery in the middle. My guess was that this piece of salmon was frozen, thawed in a room temp water bath and then thrown onto a hot grill.
Grilled ribeye ($28) - my entree. I ordered between medium-rare to medium. It came out decent on the edges but absolutely raw in the middle. I sent it back to the kitchen to get this less raw. The entire plate came back steaming - almost as if it was microwaved. I lost my appetite when the steak came back even worse the second time.
Moscato ($4) - our triumph for the evening getting this glass of wine at happy hour price.
Alamos Malbec ($8) - not bad, went well with the edges of my ribeye that managed to get cooked properly.
We skipped on dessert (we finally figured out we made a terrible mistake after the entrees) and got the check. Total damage was $78.34 not including tip.
The next time we drive by Cafe Notte, we'll know to keep on driving.