OH, PANAMA — Restaurant in Berlin

The "cooler, fancier, flashier" sister restaurant to Katz Orange. They have a test kitchen that comes up with the dishes and you can tell they are trying their best to really convert standards (rumpsteak and lamb shoulder) into fine dining through the method of preparation and plating. The tartar (without egg for some reason) was a great start but was missing the element that normally holds it together and gives it a nice finish (aka - the egg), the cevice was delightful, but the empanadas with the soy dipping sauce were the clear standout from the starters. At our table we just had 3 orders of the steak and 2 of the lamb and all were a bit underwhelming so I will wait to comment on the mains until I come back for the fish. Both the rumpsteak (cut into tiny pieces and in a portion that would fit well into a 5 or more course tasting menu) and the lamb shoulder (shredded and doused in something sweet) were 3/5 on the taste scale and 2/5 on the "you made this fine dining" scale. Wait staff informed me that they were trying to make this more of a fine dining experience compared to Katz Orange but they have a ways to go on the service side if they want to get into Michelin territory. We ordered a bottle of red and the waiter came back with a white. We had 3 different waiters (totally common in fine setting) but none of them seemed to communicate with the others what we had just ordered. Give this one some time and maybe in a year they will have fleshed out the menu and trained the staff sufficiently to come up to 1 star level. Right now its just a hipster date night place to show off to your tinder date (thanks to the very nice neon sculpture and beautiful chandelier of...

There's good & bad from our dining experience (Sat 07 Jan '23)

The bad: when we were finishing our meal we decided to ask for another drink - we noticed an older couple had just received drinks and another couple too, we are considerate and wouldn't have dreamt of ordering more drinks if we had been the last table, but because my partner had just had one glass of wine and me 2 small glasses of shouchu, we wanted a final drink before leaving.

Unfortunately, the girl with dark hair working upstairs Sat 07.01 refused to give us the drinks menu 😀 saying rudely that we should go to the bar nearby instead 😳 We were actually comfortable where we were though! Then she gave us a really sarcastic double thumbs up when we said fine give us the bill, to be honest she completely killed the moment! She seemed very pleased with the outcome - note it was about 22:30-45 at this point and the advertised closing time is 01:00 and when we went downstairs to leave we saw another table still eating too!

The good: the host when we arrived gave us a warm welcome. The waiter was also really competent friendly and welcoming. The eel was great, the potato and cabbage sides and the veal and venison excellent. The waiter suggested to serve the food in 3 stages so we got the veal and venison one after the other as separate courses - a nice touch! We had a good spend, we left also a 10€ tip for the waiter. Honestly can't believe how we were treated.

In summary, unacceptable and unprofessional conduct from one member of staff left a sour taste in our mouth - we feel if we had asked our waiter there would have been no problem. We definitely...

Unfortunately service was not just lacking but also passive aggressive.

Starting from staffing mismanagement, a very large corporate party was taking place. How about closing the restaurant while serving that 30+ people event? A sophisticated restaurant with proper staff management would not bat an eye to do that.

Then you have a waiter who doesn't know how to handle stress and decided to ignore us, 30min staring at dirty dishes, and empty glasses in a restaurant of this quality? Unacceptable. When we did get his attention I had to watch this man walk away waving his hands disrespectfully every time we asked for service?

Add to that a minimalistic menu that only lists main ingredients but does not describe the dishes. I.e.: "strawberry, juice" - strawberry what? Ice-cream? Cake? That can only work as a social experience with friendly staff willing to explain how items will be prepared /served. A passive aggressive irritated waiter is not able to do so.

Top it off with a blatent refusal to allow to us pay separately. Note: we did not ask then for individuals checks. We know that is troublesome. No, all we wanted was to divide the total by the number of guests and each individual pays their share. And, mind you, we did the calculation ourselves...

Looking for a place at a similar price range and super friendly staff? The 136 Restaurant in Mitte. Small, cozy, and folks who recognize you over time. No greed in filling the restaurant with a super large party + half a dozen more reservations. This Panama place is absolutely...