Lavender

Valentine's Weekend Dinner written by wendyphill
Last visited this restaurant on February 11, 2006

Our group of 6 made reservations via email. When we arrived, no reservation. Host had 3 names on list and multipe tables open(including one for six) but insisted the restaurant was unable to sit us. He went to the chef and was told that only the chef and his wife responded to email and had never had an email from me. At this point, I'm embarrassed because one of the couples had driven 150 miles for this dinner. I asked for directions to another restaurant(well known in the area) and the host stated "I don't know, maybe downtown...) At that point, a waiter came out and apologized and seated us. Water was served, but no effort to show a wine list-just ready in about 30 seconds to take our orders. We thought they were going to try to rush us out. In our email, we had asked about wine corkage fees($30/bottle-outrageous), but the markup on the wine was pretty high. So we did bring our own wine.

All of the first courses were good, especially the scallop and the blue point oysters. With the entrees, the duck was boring, tough, soft skin. Filets were good but not exceptional. Escolar was good. Veal cheeks were interesting.

Service between courses was very slow. Dessert took almost 25 minutes and we were not told when ordering that the chocolate fondant took at least 15 minutes. That would have been acceptable if we had been aware.

Atmosphere was lovely and most of the food was good but not great. Poor service will prevent us from recommending to others as well as returning.

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