I wanted to like it here. Heck I made a reservation before I even left Florida so I could get in here on a friday night. I was highly disappointed and am considering grading two stars instead of my generous three.
Walked into a glass entranceway (wonder how many people literally do) to a hostess who says "we will be seating on time this evening so it will be just a moment" Since it was just a moment we didnt bother ordering wine at the bar and saved it for our dinner.10-15 "moments" later our table was ready.
This place is dark, cozy dark, almost cant read the menu dark, but luckily they have battery operated candles in the glasses on the tables so assist (tacky)
So we get the Ipad of wine list and begin to peruse. No stags leap, no Opus, no Silver Oak, so I inquire to our waiter who brings us two bottles of cab sauv. one at $65 one at $125. The $65 was decent from Mount Eden Vineyards, really pretty good for a reasonbly priced wine.
So hubby started with the pork belly. Served with watermelon, jalapenos, basil ($12) . It was really good. The fresh jalapeno would be a tad overwhelming for some but with the watermelon freshness it defintiely set it off. I had the beef cheek periogi. ($12). The filling of beef cheek was delicious bu the periogi was undercooked. The top one was ok, but once I got half through to the second one the dough was literally raw. They didn't even brown it, it was a disaster. DId I send it back? No I was halfway through and thought dinner would make up for it.
It didn't
Hubby got the Duck ($28) described as magret breast, corn, peaches, mole 28. It was no where near that. It was served medium rare, well more like rare, no peaches no mole, in fact more fresh jalapeno completely overwhelmed this dish. The corn and mole (not a traditional one by the way) were completely hidden by the taste of the raw hot peppers. Jalapeno and duck do not go together. Period.
I had the scallops ($30) described as served with asparagus, fava beans, bacon, pea tendril. Well the three scallops were served raw, no not rare, no not med rare, barely browned and raw, They returned to the kitchen quickly. Second attempt was not much better. They were served with green scallop shreds, some itsy bitsy pieces of bacon, a couple fava beans and a schmear of asparagus foam. (God I hate this foam faze!) It was a disaster. Trying to salvage the night for hubby I forced one down and got the rest to go blaming it for being too heavy. (and he believed that?!)
They were aware it was our 20th anniversary and for that we got two 1" mini pumpkin pies. Wow, thanks for the splurge , hope it didn't bust the budget.
The clincher on this evening? Oh seeing the "remarkable" Michael Symon come in dressed in rolled up blue jeans , a flannel shirt and clogs.
Remarkable? I think not