"0"^^ . . "3"^^ . "So they responded to my inquiry about the hummus situation - it's reasonable and I can understand (see below). Therefore, I upped their review to 3 stars from 2 - good food, and maybe not as pretentious as I thought....Will try them again and re-post.\n\nFrom essence: \"Thanks for taking the time to send us an email....In the past, we have allowed substitutions, but we realized that it made plating up slower. In other words,\nthe big part part of our clients who were not substituting saw their orders delayed by \"special orders\". The other difficulty resides in the difference of portions between side orders and what comes with an entrees, something that you guessed, and that difference makes costing difficult to establish for multiple combinations, \nwhich are the direct results of allowing substitutions.\nSo it just seemed to make more sense to us to go with the system that you were told. I know it is not ideal, but it is \nwhat enables us to serve in the fastest way the number of people that will order in the most likely way.\nIt is true that in many establishments they allow substitutions, but in most of them, the price point and margin are \nhigher, and that enables to swallow more easily costs, that is especially true about places that sell beer like Cornish\naround the corner. But our margins are pretty tight, so we have to control things in other ways.\nNext time you are in, we will offer you a side of hummus, to thank you for trying to make the place better. Ask for Jessie, \nshe will be happy to help you.\nHave a nice day. \""^^ . . . "0"^^ . "2012-08-01T00:00:00"^^ . "0"^^ .