Ride on past One If By Land, Two If By Sea

I recently joined a book club that combines a love of good books with dining at great restaurants around the city. I'm sad to say that for my first meeting, I was disappointed on both counts.

Luckily, their Restaurant Week menu was still available, so we each ordered a cocktail and then chose our appetizer, entree, and dessert. The cocktails were really delicious, no complaints on that count. But then the trouble started. I was talking to the girl on my right, so did not notice the waiter who approached me with the bread basket behind my left shoulder. Up until now, I sensed an air of hoity toitiness from the wait staff (which is why there are no accompanying pictures with this post). The extremely rude toned "Ex-cuse me" that I then received from the waiter quickly confirmed it.

The bread and the flavored butters & oils that went with it was pretty average. The summer salad of tomatoes, strawberry, cherry & feta was exactly just that. There is a reason that 'cherry' and 'strawberry' are singular in the description. The Seared Tile Fish was served over couscous with cucumber, tomato, and red onion. The red onion was basically the only flavor in the dish, I was very disappointed.

At this point I start to get pretty curious about why this place is getting away with serving such mediocre food at high prices. Taking a glance around, I get it. The place oozes romance. A live pianist, a bunch of roses and a candle on each table, all overlooking a courtyard garden. This is where dudes take ladies they want to impress.

For dessert I ordered the Milk & Cookies. This is definitely the highlight of the meal. It's huge and has a fun blend of textures and flavors that really capture the essence of an Oreo, but in a fancy way. My heart starts to warm up a bit for the place when one of the women I was dining with asks if she can get her dessert wrapped up to take home. The waiter gave a long, pointed look to another waiter and then unhappily obliged.

I personally do not believe waitstaff should be rude, ever. And when your food isn't even very good, I do not understand where such snobbery is coming from. To top it all off, I spent an uncomfortable night tossing & turning with an upset stomach.