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| - My husband and I came here for a little celebratory dinner after I read an interview with the restaurant's executive chef in a local magazine. Unfortunately, I was terribly disappointed. We kicked off the experience with some sparkling wine, and our waitress had to find another server to open it, as she didn't know how. The poor server who came over to help cut her hand on the bottle's wire cage and started bleeding all over. We had to politely point out to her that there was blood all over the napkin she was using to open the bottle, because she didn't notice. They took the bottle away and got the bartender to open it, and it frankly grossed me out a bit to go ahead and drink the wine out of it, but I wiped the top with a napkin to see if any blood remained on it, and there didn't seem to be, so we let it go and didn't want to make a fuss.
The bread and oil were good, but I ended up using some of that oil on my salad, since the dressing was flavorless. We got the cod and chicken pistachio for our main dishes, and I was very surprised to see that the only vegetable preparation they have for their sides is steaming. The magazine article I read emphasized that the chef sees vegetables as the next big thing, and as a veggie-lover, I expected something really interesting. Unfortunately, unless you liked the gray, over-steamed brussels sprouts your grandma made thirty years ago, you will be disappointed at all the veggie sides at Hoffstot's. A more current preparation would be roasting them with olive oil and salt, which is what other restaurants are doing. I had to send back my chicken because it had literally no flavor whatsoever, and appeared to have been pounded thin and then steamed. I actually almost grabbed the waitress to tell her she'd brought me fish by mistake, because the chicken had a flaky, fish-like texture. I took a few bites and tried to like it, but there was just no taste there, only a sea of buttery, flavorless sauce. I got a side of penne pasta in an equally flavor-free sauce that also went back.
Still hungry, having struck out on the salad, main course, and side dish, I decided to try out dessert. Their dessert menu says "Innovative Desserts" at the top, but every dessert is named "Old fashioned such and such," so that's a bit of a clash. We tried to order a pumpkin pecan dessert, but the server said they didn't have any. She said they had some creme brulee for a short time only, as a special dessert, so we ordered that. It came out looking unlike any creme brulee I've ever seen. It was covered in strawberries and whipped cream, probably to disguise the fact that it was made far in advance and stored in the fridge, such that there was no "brulee" to it. The characteristic crackly sugar crust had melted and softened, so they should have just called it a baked custard at best, since people usually order creme brulee for the torched sugar crust. It tasted fine, it just wasn't creme brulee.
We gave in at this point and called it a night. We won't be back, since the folks running this restaurant seem to be out of date and allergic to flavor.
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