Truffles Fine Cuisine & 56 Degrees Bar — Restaurant in Bloomington

Went in here for a job interview about 3 months back. I have worked semi fine dining but when I went for my interview I was basically told I did not have the basic knowledge of wines etc… He was very rude overall and told me even though he didn’t think I would be a good fit there but he would give me the second interview. Thankfully he never got back with me. Me and my girlfriends 3 year anniversary came up today and we went in too eat. I ASSUMED from the way the manager/owner talked so self righteous about the place it would be a killer upscale place where the waitstaff super nice and knowledgeable and the food is delicious. Well the visit was LAUGHABLY bad. I will say I was a bit more attentive to not only our server but all and I heard about 2-3 people have to ask their server for their name. What a joke. Personally we probably got the worst server as he didn’t seem to have ANY knowledge of serving. He didn’t tell us his name but he was a shorter Asian guy around 18-20ish. He didn’t say hi, ask how we were, nothing. He wasn’t rude per say but it was just like he didn’t have a clue how to be a server. We ordered appetizer and got it, and legitimately waited about 25 minutes after getting it too be asked by our server “did you guys order your entrees yet or not?”. Again he had good intentions but just beyond unattentive. We saw him 4 total times, ordering appetizers, ordering entrees, him bring entrees, and then about 20 mins later checking on us again. Just kind of a joke and really upsetting to me after ordering almost 100 dollars worth of food. Anyway the food was gross. I will say the Calamari was DELICIOUS. I got the salmon and it was just bland it was only around 20 which is whatever. However my girlfriend got the cavatappi pasta with beef. It was basically BEEF STROGANOFF 😭. The beef was so gross and tough and the noddles and the sauce was watery. Guess how much this beef stroganoff hamburger helper ripoff was. 29 bucks🤣 Overall every worker in there seemed like they had no knowledge of serving whatsoever, and even one of the girl servers didn’t have her liquor license. I mean I could care less but remembering my interview and how I got rejected because of my lack of knowledge of wine. Very weird place I pray this place shuts down so people don’t have to get robbed by this nasty ripoff of “fine dining”. Bloomington guys take your girls out to a chain or something better food better service and half the price.FYI* the pasta looked nothing like the picture it came out in a mix just how it looked in the photo, only thing on top...

*Mediocre strip mall meal with high end stand alone restaurant prices. FINE DINING FRAUD Researched reviews before going here with our family. Atmosphere was tasteful and unique, and cozy. Service was friendly but slow and not very attentive. Menu is extremely limited with ZERO options for children/ neurodivergent eaters. All of our soft drinks were served in alcohol branded glass which was so tacky, embarrassing, and immoral. Our childs sprite was served in a Bud Light glass. We were sitting at the restaurant not the bar! Carelessness and an ignorant oversite for anyone in sobriety. Service highly suggested an appetizer due to food being backed up for so long. We inevitably ordered the bread with butter. It was nothing like in the pictures. Just crusty and stale ciabatta. Service did take forever to get our main courses out. One of our orders was not correct and had to be sent back. Food was visually attractive. Quality and taste was not. The halibut was gummy and all vegetables were limp and soggy. The most expensive cut of steak was not cooked to requested wellness and other than a light sear tasted like they may have boiled it! The "fresh" Millers chicken was either frozen or had been left in brine way too long giving the meats consistency of poorly prepared tofu. The polenta was off and the texture was not proper. Was more like 2 day old cornbread that had been misted with water before microwaving. Somewhat rubbery. The garlic confit pasta was dull and too oily. The contents were also slimy and limp with too much oil pooling at the bottom of the dish. Pasta was al dente and dish lacked salt. The Truffle fries were soggy and seemed old. Truffle aioli was good. Asked for ketchup and was served cocktail sauce. Every meal that we ordered seemed suspiciously reheated and not fresh yet we paid around $50 a plate. I would assume that being a Thursday the food was prepared the weekend before and catered through the whole week. Do not recommend this restaurant for food at all. ...

This place is a no-go.

We are not from Indiana. The manager saw us with a special wine bottle that we brought in. The waitress wanted to serve us and decant it. The manager afterwards comes up to us, says he recognizes the bottle, and says that he will either confiscate it and drink it or we have to set it aside. He proceeds to tell us the law that we cannot bring in bottles without prior notice. Thats not the issue - we always abide by the law. This issue is that he then asks us what WE want to do with the bottle, without giving us options. His attitude was extremely unpleasant - he stared at us until we panicked and decided to put the bottle to our side. I was expecting to pay an extra high corkage fee due to this, but he didn't offer that and just was unpleasant to talk to.

We went for the NYE special four course meal. I was hoping for it to be a nice casual meal. Unfortunately, the amount of time the wait staff took to deliver our drinks and food was too long. We stated a few times that we were waiting on items and they said it was coming. The drinks were good; sadly, the food was very bland. I didn't like the food. The oysters were flavorless; the pasta was bland. This place was a severe disappointment.

I sat with a full view of the kitchen area. Remember that this night was a four course meal - why would it take 30+ minutes to deliver each course??? The kitchen cooks were wearing trucker hats and no sanitary gear. The wait staff had to constantly ask the cooks what dish is what; each time they delivered a dish, they walked from the kitchen in a walking sprint, which was uncomfortable to see. Nobody smiled at any time during our three excruciating hours there.

The top issue was the price was $75/person. The price was too high for the serve and food quality.

Good luck to Truffle, I...