Definitely did not have a 4.3 star experience last night…

TL;DR: Service: poor. Apps: poor. Entrees: one delicious but missing garlic, the other poor and missing garlic.

We decided to stop by for dinner because we had a craving for Mizithra! 🤤 While waiting, we noticed a lady and her purse dog get seated out on the lanai. After a few minutes more of waiting, we asked to be seated outside, too. We should have known right then that we wouldn’t have a great experience. The person who was seating us told us, almost pleadingly, that a table was ready for us inside. We politely declined 2 or 3 times and assured him we would prefer outside (it was raining, but the whole lanai is covered and dry).

Our waiter, Julio(?), was prompt to greet us and take our drink and appetizer order (Sicilian garlic cheese bread as an app and spinach artichoke dip with dinner). When he brought our drinks, we gave our dinner order (garlic mizithra and garlic shrimp fettuccini). After a decent wait, the garlic cheese bread came out. Remember french pizza? That’s about how I would describe the Sicilian garlic bread. Two half loaves with melted/broiled cheese on top. It tasted good, except there was zero garlic flavor. None whatsoever. My wife and I were expecting maybe some roasted or sautéed garlic. Heck, even just garlic powder. But no, no garlic taste at all.

After we set the cheese bread aside, we waited and waited. Eventually plates started heading our way. We realized when they got to us that they were our entrees. I asked Julio to please forget our salads because there was no way we could eat them with all the food that had just arrived. He seemed surprised that we hadn’t received our salads (or bread and butter) and assured me he had thought someone had brought them out to us (this right here shows how inattentive he was after we placed our order). We asked for the salads and bread to go.

We started eating our garlic mizithra, garlic shrimp fettuccini, and spinach artichoke dip.

First, the spinach artichoke dip. The expectation was a creamy, gooey, dip the we could dip our toasted “rustic” bread into. The bread was anything but “rustic” (read: white loaf bread from the supermarket with the crust cut off and toasted in a panini iron), and the dip itself was so dry it was more of a spread than a dip. About the consistency of peanut butter.

Next, the garlic mizithra. The addition of bacon and sautéed mushrooms really does add to this already delicious plate. The browned butter just makes the dish pop. Delicious! Except…zero garlic flavor. That’s the only thing I can say negative about this dish. It was really delightful and the additions really add to the regular mizithra plate. Would have been amazing with the sautéed garlic…

And last, the garlic shrimp fettuccini. Uninspired is about all I can say. There really wasn’t anything that drew the flavors together. It was alfredo covered shrimp and fettuccini. Oh, and guess what…zero garlic. That at least would have brought some flavor to this dish. For $23.25 I was expecting a bit more.

Julio disappeared. Actually, he was at the bar chatting up the bartender, but for all intents and purposes, he was gone. We didn’t exist. Our drinks were empty and we didn’t even have water to carry us through to our next round of drinks. We watched the scene. Watched him talk. Watched him do whatever he was doing except pay any attention to us and the other couple with the purse dog.

He finally brought us more drinks then promptly vanished. We thought maybe he had tables in the main dining room. He didn’t. He never left the bar area. Eventually, he brought us the salad (in the smallest to go containers I have ever seen), a single loaf of bread, and a couple to go containers for our entrees and apps. He brought our check which was about what I had expected: $74.05. Unfortunately, I’m so used to tipping 20% or more that’s what I did even though I had it in my mind that the most I was going was 15%. My slip up is Julio’s gain. He didn’t deserve what he got.

Disappointing dinner overall.