The worst dinner of my life

Posted by Kittykate1993 from San Francisco on 4/9/07

I have had food poisonings before after eating at McDonalds, but I didnt expect the same experience from a restaurant that runs its own cooking school. We ordered a 5 course testing menu and everything on it was a suspect: Salmon with crème fresh was stale; The Angus Beef Carpaccio was the only dish I enjoyed. The generous portion of foe gras was undercooked and oily. The Chilean Sea bass arrived very undercooked (which is no-no for that type of fish); Then was the SQUAB! I read some comments from other diners about the presentation of the food. I dont mean to sound snobbish, but there is a big difference between an artistic presentation of the food and a critical mess of leftovers combined on the plate. The squab plate looked like a lumbering accident: 1 dried wing of the squab was located in the lower right corner of the square plate; two small string beans formed an X on the left. A half-peeled radish was set in-between. The sand started grinding on my teeth as I tried to eat the radish. The upper part of the plate was occupied by a burned and soaked in fat toast, the duck foe gras (again?) was on the top of the toast, covered by a tiny ½ breast of the squab. This portion of the squab was completely raw on the inside. A potato chip finished the pyramid. A small leg of the squab also was present. It rested near by and, possibly, just fell of the toast. A waiter arrived with a serving of cauliflower puree that he offered as his favorite side dish. Cauliflower is my favorite vegetable, but this dish had no cauliflower taste. I could only taste burned cheese on the top. The desert consisted of a cookie, a scoop of raspberry sorbet and 4 berries in sugary juice. I spent all next day throwing up. Cost $80 per person, plus $150 for wine + 17% tax and tips. What really fooled us about the restaurant is the staff that was very professional. They presented every dish as it was something special and made us feel as we were dining at an upscale establishment.

A work of art

Posted by Hannie from Ireland on 1/26/07

A great experience. The owners obviously have a great love of food and the quality and presentation reflected this and it was like a work of art. Excellent quality without being pretentious. Friendly and professional service. A memorable evening.