We had a really-good-not-great meal at Carve last week. Shrimp cocktails were very good and pretty much what you'd expect for four shrimp at fourteen dollars; the lobster bisque and french onion soups were both yummy; New York Strip steak was cooked perfectly; creme brulee for dessert was out of this world, as any well-made creme brulee should be.
Our waiter was...odd. At first we thought he was just having an off evening, or maybe one of those older guys who's been doing it so long that he sort of doesn't care anymore. Then he told me how terrible the mojito I'd just ordered was going to be, and sighed, as though he was pained to have to serve it without it's requisite stick of sugar cane. (Honestly, it wasn't half bad, and the martinis were great.) He also scolded me for ordering my dessert too early - still not sure what that was all about. Then some other diners showed up in his section - it was nearly deserted that evening - and our less-than gregarious waiter became a Superstar..cracking jokes with the other diners and being generally jovial. Back at our table, not so much. We left a generous tip in spite of this, hoping that the lackluster service we received at Carve was a one-off and not demonstrative of their overall standard.