L2O

Good Meal, But Room for Improvement
My spouse and I ate dinner at L2O in the Belden Stratford Hotel in mid-August 2011. We (relatively easily) used Open Table to make a reservation about two months prior to our desired date. Our only regret is that we didn’t investigate the tatami rooms - we feel that this is one of the things that truly separates L2O from its competitors. We had thought that the tatami seating was only available for larger groups, and because we were only a party of 2 it would be unavailable to us, but that was incorrect thinking. We sat in the main dining room area, which is spacious, stark, and lovely. Our main complaint was that on the evening that we dined there, there was a large VERY NOISY party seated in one of the areas a few steps up from the main dining room. It may have been a private party area, but the area was the mirror image of the lounge area near the restrooms where diners could have drinks, wait for their tables, and/or order from the more casual lounge menu. Although we realize that this LOUD party could not really be asked to “keep it down”, their exuberance greatly lessened our dining experience. We aren’t sure what the restaurant could have done to fix this problem, but the entire main restaurant floor of patrons shouldn’t be made to “suffer” because of one boisterous group. We were seated almost as far away from that loud group as we possibly could have been, so I can’t imagine how loud the volume must have been for the tables seated near that area. The food was excellent, and some of the preparations and presentations were terrific. I won’t go into any detail about what we ordered, except to say that it was the 8-course summer (seasonal) tasting menu; other options are the 3-course prix fixe or the 6-course singular (luxury) tasting. Other than not being able to experience the 10-course tatami menu in one of the special seating areas, we are happy with our choice of the summer tasting menu. This restaurant was awarded 2 Michelin stars, but we aren’t sure that we agree based on the night that we were there. Service was spotty - very good at the beginning of our meal when the restaurant was only at half capacity, but noticeably tapering off towards the middle and end of our meal, when the restaurant became more crowded. It was evident that there was some issue with the service that evening, perhaps because of the large party, perhaps a server called in sick, or someone quit, or there were a few newer employees). One of us had the wine pairing, which we thought was adequate, but admittedly, we are not wine connoisseurs. The other of us had non-alcoholic beverages - iced tea in particular. Usually, we are made to feel somewhat bad when one or the other of us orders non-alcoholic drinks, but at L2O, they made a huge deal out of steeping the tea in front of our eyes, and then pouring it into a tall glass filled with iced tea-flavored ice cubes. It was one element of our meal that we will never forget, because it has never happened before in our dining experiences. In summary, our meal at L2O was quite good, but too expensive to have as many problems as it did.