Herons

I've been to this restaurant which is located in the lovely and posh Umstead Hotel and Spa and although love every aspect of the Hotel , Spa , and amenities throughout this beautiful resort , l cannot seem to have a dining experience to remember . Aside from underwhelming cuisine , the wait staff is very pleasant and the atmosphere spectacular . The entrees were lackluster and with the exception of the seared foie gras did not enjoy any appetizer on the menu . Please do not misrepresent and ask your servers to call the Lamb dish a Rack of Lamb . lt's insulting to anyone who actually knows what a full rack or half rack actually is . Another question is what is Natural Beef ? ls it Prime? ls it Kobe ? ls it Wagyu? l think we all know the answer and am not impressed when this could actually be the setting for a beautiful meal if the food were a little more at the forefront. Why use frozen fries as an accompaniment and dust on truffle salt when there are 9-10 people scurrying about in the kitchen and quite visible . The emphasis here may be misplaced and l like the wine selections , the decor , the people and service yet not so much the food . l'm quite friendly with many chef's and have never seen as relaxed , tanned or well rested chef than the one on display behind the window here as l was introduced through our server and me and my guests came to meet . The chef's l know are a bit more passionate about the end result , the amount of covers and most importantly the response of the patron but he didn't seem interested in any of our thoughts , comments or opinions .l don't believe ownership can admit it but there's not a reason to blame the success of the restaurant or not on anyone but themselves as l'm a fan of the resort but brace myself every time l order food here. The restaurant is rarely well attended , at least when l'm here and does not stand up to the character of the establishment it is within . Service was very good but almost defensive when l asked about certain dishes [ ie: the Rack of Lamb , the Natural Beef ,the frozen fries , the the size of some of the dishes served because this isn't a tasting menu format , the vicinity of the bread man , the reason all of the dishes were a bit ''off'' and there were three tables being served the last time visited . ] and l'm not quite sure if the expectation of the diner is of concern . l do want people to realize that money was never an issue in any of my comments as l still try to give every restaurant another chance to impress but l feel almost redundant in saying so that l'm truly underwhelmed with Heron's .