Seven Glaciers Restaurant — Restaurant in Alaska

Warning, long in depth post.

I had previously eaten at Seven Glaciers restaurant in 2014 when visiting Girdwood, and enjoyed an outstanding meal. Unfortunately last night's Prefixe dinner was far from enjoyable.

Upon arrival into the restaurant you enter a narrow space filled with 4 star AAA dining awards from 2011 through 2017, that is when they end!

Our server was initially attentive to us from the explanation of dinner options on the Prefixe menu and available add ons to serving us our second course, then her attention to us sadly ended

The endive salad was extremely salty, I was not able to eat it, my friend's beet salad was enjoyable, we shared that dish. Next was the salmon spread and scallop bisque. Scallop bisque was delicious tasting though just barely warm, still I was able to enjoy it. The salmon spread was non edible, pasty and fishy smelling as well as tasting. We immediately pushed it to the opposite side of the table and did not touch it. The buser came by and cleared the salmon dish without notifying our server it was untouched and on the far side of our table, nor did she ask if everything was okay with it. Our server had made many passes by our table while waiting on her 2 other tables, never noticing.

The main course. Steak tenderloin and seared halibut over an herb broth and corn polenta. Outstanding presentation and sadly nothing more. When the food was delivered by another server, our server was table side within seconds to check if everything was satisfactory with this course, neither of us had yet to actually taste our food. She never returned to check on us once we had actually tasted our meal. The tenderloin, that should have been prepared medium, had a purple center and pink(medium)edges. It was what I considered average in taste, I have had better from Texas Roadhouse. I did finish my dish. My friend took exactly 1 bite of her haddock and was unable to eat any more of it. She explained it over was overly salted fish with no other flavor, resting a top of a watery green broth.That dish was pushed to the side as well.

Our server did not return to our table again until it was time to take our dessert order. Making frequent passes by our table yet never stopping to inquire as to why my friend had not touched her dinner and my plate was empty. Again the buser cleared the plates without inquiring about the untouched meal or bringing it to our server's attention.

I encouraged my friend to share her experience with our server. She was reluctant, as a peace keeper and my guest( I suggested Seven Glaciers and raved about my previous experience)to cause a fuss. I honored her wish. Dessert was minimally acceptable at best.

Upon paying I could not hold my tongue and casually stated our visit had been dissapointing and why. The server apologized as duty calls for, and offered to get her manager. I declined. At this point I was so over it and dissatisfied I just wanted to leave and not have a back and forth with a manager. My friend did have 1 glass of wine, I drank water, and the 1lb king crab legs as an add on. The crab was over steamed but edible. Total cost $410.75. So unfortunate. My friend insisted on paying a 25% tip. Though I never take food issues out on a server's tip, I would not have been so generous If I had been tipping, we clearly had a lack of attentiveness that in fact could have resolved the issues in a timely manner. Sadly, extremely...

$300 meal with tip for 2, 6 courses. Food runners were terrible. Soup slopped around in the bowl, plates thumped onto table, and probably least excusable, absolutely no explanation of what each course was. Just “the pasta” or “the A5 waygu” etc. I feel like the mistake we made was when we said we were sober and just ordered soda water. They “ran out” of gun soda and had to get us a bottle of San Pellegrino instead, but were happy to still charge us for the two gun soda waters along with the Pellegrino. I know food service, and ringing up the two soda waters is a passive aggressive knock against us for not ordering booze.

I have spent 20+ years in food service, so please trust me when I say I am a fair critic of places when I eat.

Our server Hughey had no zest. He brought nothing to the experience. He spoke to us only at the opening and to offer us coffee. To me, if you’re not running the food, you should be arriving with the food to walk us through what we’re eating. That’s what a chef’s tasting is.

So, service was LACKING, to say the least. But at least the food was…extremely mediocre.

Bisque was served almost room temp and for such a pretty dish you’d think the food runner wouldn’t swish it all around the bowl as she walks with it or serves it, what a mess, I picture the chef being furious if they saw that. The brown butter crouton was terrible and totally drowned out the taste of the scallop, the caviar was totally lost in the bite.

The tortellini wasn’t cooked! It was clearly house made pasta but the first bite I tried had that unmistakable texture of under cooked fresh noodle.

The sea bass added nothing to the tasting. Uninspired, flavorless, boring. Also slopped around and plopped down like a bag of bricks on our table by our food runner.

Waygu was, you know, steak and mashed potatoes. Who cares? It was the only item I would say without a doubt “this was cooked correctly” as the rest of the menu had holes at every step.

Dessert came out and was GORGEOUS, especially the blueberry stone, but that’s where it ended, unfortunately, because it was all pretty flavorless. The boozy ice cream was all booze and no sugar, it really stood out as a truly bad part of the dish. The blueberry stone, as pretty as a picture, was boring once in my mouth.

Did get a goodbye on our way out, which is good, but come on. This is some 4 star restaurant with all these awards on the wall but the service and food we were served was as mediocre as it gets in this industry.

Left a 20% tip because I am not a monster.

Train your staff, enhance your...

Some ups and downs to last night’s dinner.

My wife and I showed up early to our reservation and were seated half an hour early - which we appreciated greatly! Our four course dinner from seating to exit was approximately two hours and forty-ish minutes.

Our server was very friendly and knowledgeable - her recommendations for wine pairings based on the evening’s courses were on point, and informing us of the “off-menu” selections for the evening was greatly appreciated, even if we didn’t take advantage of everything (such as the crab or the black cod).

Our course was steak tartare and the endive salad. The steak tartare was stellar - the endive salad was okay. My wife noted the fennel created a strong flavor that was a little less than desirable when paired with everything else in it.

The second course knocked it out of the park - with the chef’s choice pasta and scallop bisque. Both dishes were excellent and complimented by the recommendation of bread service. These might as well have been the main event of the evening!

Our third course was where the quality dropped. We ordered the off-menu bavette cooked med-rare, and the halibut served over an herb broth.

Nearly two hours into service we are presented by another with a beef tenderloin and the halibut… we were both confused by the tenderloin, and when we asked our server about a potential mixup, she mentioned she had forgotten to inform us ahead of time about the kitchen running out of bavette. She was apologetic and offered us extra dessert on the house - which was appreciated - but this was especially disappointing considering the quality of the entrées themselves.

The beef tenderloin was raw enough in spots that it may as well have been used for the steak tartare. The halibut itself was very dry - and the broth was salty enough to the point where my wife felt it was inedible after a few bites. If it weren’t for a long day prior, and a long wait for the main entrée (nearly two hours into service), and naturally not wanting to cause a fuss when things appear busy… we would have sent both of these back to the kitchen.

Finally - desserts. We had the profiteroles and berry thyme tart (accompanied by a complimentary third dessert with chocolate mousse as an apology for the bavette). They were both fine - but nothing we’d go out of our way to recommend or order again, unlike some of the dishes from the first two courses.

For this being my first visit to Seven Glaciers, I do feel slightly uneasy about returning in the future - at least if it is for a four-course dinner versus a...