Welcomed at the door by a very friendly employee. We look at the space; 3 booths open, the fourth occupied by the elderly couple we let go in front of us (out of courtesy, we were at the door sooner).
Server seats us at the bar. We ask if we can take one of the three booths (all have couples in them and so are we). They tell us to wait and come back with who I assume is a manager. She explains to us that there is a maximum number of booths that can have couples and that the rest of the booths are (sort of) reserved for larger parties. I kind of get the feeling that I'm being judged by the sort of customer I'll be (I don't dress business casual. I'm fairly h&m casual and uninteresting, but clean of course). I start giving a bit of attitude but my other half reminds me that this is our first "date" in a while (toddler life). I agree and let it go. I will end up regretting that attitude I gave the manager, here is why;
First off, the place is very small, true, but still feels airy. We are seated at the very end of the bar and it is actually fairly comfortable (Although being in the industry, I do feel that these two seats are badly placed since it's too close to the kitchen action).
We are greeted by our server. She's extremely friendly. It is a perfectly sized menu so we quickly get under way;
Oysters to start; not the best ones I've had. It doesn't come with the traditional mignonette but there is a salsa.
Beef tartare; generally a big fan of the traditional with the quail egg. This one has some warm crispy bits. I criticised it at first but as I dug deeper, sort of fell in love with it. Beware, it's a fairly large appetizer portion.
On the side, they offer their homemade cheese bread. I'm not a huge fan of cheese bread but the texture of the bread is extraordinary!
Our mains are the salmon and the steak.
Salmon has an amazing mustard sauce on top, wife loves it so much, she has to order a side of it, and it is truly amazing.
Steak is very very simple; with shiitake mushrooms on top. No fries, no half-made salad, nothing else. Just the amazing steak and the mushrooms. I'm completely against wasted garnish and find this amazingly beautiful.
We each started with a glass of chardonnay. I ordered a second. Just as we were nearing the end of our date, the manager came by and topped us off to thank us for our understanding. Now this is managerial beauty!!! You madame, know what you're doing!
We leave extremely happy and of course will return.