Rêve — Restaurant in Birmingham

What in the world is happening? Hate and racism is coming from the restaurant manager to a paying customer. A CUSTOMER!!! WARNING!!! If you want to be respected as a patron and not talked down to when you have an issue don’t visit Rêve. This review is of a manager’s response to a patron. And for the manager, a patron is a person who gives financial or other support to a person, organization, cause, or activity. I was planning on visiting this establishment but as I always do, I read the reviews AND the restaurants response to said reviews. I am not spending money at a place that doesn't value my patronage. Please go read for yourself. Because this person wasn't happy with her food, the manager went on an all out attack on her character with snide remarks about who she was as a person. He was rude and dismissive. No mention of the issues with the food. He made it clear he doesn't care about the customer unless they are singing his praises. I am in utter shock. I don’t put a lot of stock in good reviews alone, as a lot of them are fabricated. I read the bad ones. To sum it up, the person was saying the food fell short. Instead of apologizing, and asking for another chance to do the right thing, he intimated she and her guest were not refined. What kind of response is that? You never considered the food could have been off that night? So it’s a take it as it is or go elsewhere philosophy. And what did the dress code or fixed pricing have to do with the taste of the food? Insulting a patron that tipped and asked about a military discount because they served this country is deplorable. Restaurants that offer a military discount to honor those who have sacrificed to serve and protect everyone including you is not asking for a handout. She must be a person of color because you attacked her in such a way that is disgusting. NO….I WILL NOT BE VISITING THIS ESTABLISHMENT AND NEITHER WILL ANY OF MY FOLLOWERS. Because you have a picture with the mayor who is black you are giving the illusion that people of color are welcome. A meal isn’t just about the taste of the food, the service, and atmosphere. It’s about being valued as a person who took the time to visit and pay their money, even when the food wasn’t up to par. Even at that, if the management is indifferent, people won’t return. If I know the management/owner is indifferent by their own admission, I won’t even darken their door. Why would I want to go to a place where I...

Focused, driven, artful, playful, thoughtful dinner. Chef Jacobs tone and style are super obvious throughout the space and the food; the place and the menu read like a quiet expression of his sensibilities as a cook and a person, and I like that. This is a deeply personal project for him and it's clear that he's enjoying being able to really just showcase... What he thinks is correct and cool.

Sloan, our server, was charming. Helpful, present without being overbearing, quick and precise without feeling stuffy.

Blake was very thoughtful too. (He saw our rezzo notes mentioning I'm a champagne dork and glassed the table with bubs without prompting the moment we sat down, which was really fun and much appreciated.)

The vegetable plate with chicken consomme was a highlight for both me and my date - super fun execution, delicious, clean, really elegant. Lots of people talk about elevating food but this was the most dialed in little plate of veg I've seen in a while, and I've been industry my whole life.

The veal cheek pho was sumptuous but I would have hit it with some smoked finishing salt to really punch the layers that being said though, that is a very minor change and salt is definitely one of those "how much is too much?" ingredients where eeeeeeveryone has thoughts. So. YMMV. That aside, though, the broth was full of umami, the veal was tender enough to cut with a spoon. The leftover veal cheek also made a hell of a good omelet this morning.

The duck was the runaway hit of the evening, for sure. The bao was such a surprise, the breast was perfect, the beets and cherries gave such precise balance to everything. Super fun. I find myself thinking about the dish, the sauce, the little intricacies of it, the day after the meal, and I love that.

Pastry Chef Cait's dessert was also absolutely awesome. A guest seated next to us suggested I try the sorbet alone, first, and it was so incredibly bracing - the bitters really assert themselves in a fun way and cut through the sugar - but then trying a bite of everything all at once? The interplay of darker chocolate, the sauces, the sorbet base and the bitters? Just super cool. The synergy of it was beautiful. Very impressed.

It was a pleasure meeting Jacob and Cait, and Jacob's mom, too! - everyone was really generous with their time table side, which was really fun for me. I love getting to talk shop.

I'll be back tonight for potatoes and...

We went here for our anniversary last night at 7 on a Saturday. We were actually an hour early, but they got us in immediately, which was great. We did the full 10 course experience.

The appetizer course was delicious and came out relatively fast, but it only went downhill from there. Each course took about 20 minutes to come out. 20 minutes! 1.5 hours in and we had just started to get to the entrees. At 3 hours they were finally scrambling to get the deserts out as quick as they could. Probably because it was past closing time.

That's no exaggeration, btw. We were there from 7PM to after 10PM. The poor people sitting next to us were there at 6:30 and still there when we left. We felt like hostages and just wanted the "experience" to be over. It's not like the place was crowded. There were maybe 7 tables of a couple of people?

We've been to multiple fine dining experiences from some James Beard chefs at Michelin Star restaurants, so it's not like we don't have any experience with fine dining. This, however, was more like some weird social experiment. Throughout our time there, the chef kept wandering away from the kitchen and doing things like answering phone calls, which the maître d' laughingly told us were prank calls they had been getting. Listen, the chef being social is a great thing, but when your customers are breaking into the multiple hours point you need to focus on your job in the kitchen. The food is why customers are even there. It was to the point that our poor waiter, who was super responsive and amazing, kept standing by the counter and just staring at them for 15-20 minutes at a time. I think he was just as bothered by it as we were.

The food was good and interesting, but the courses came out fairly cool. The waitstaff are very attentive. They did apologize and comp our wine, which was nice. I pray we just showed up on a very off day and this is not the norm. If so, they will not be open long. At this price point, the service has to be immaculate, the food exquisite, and the atmosphere enjoyable. This place failed in almost every way possible except...