The Left Bank — Restaurant in Buffalo

I called a week out and made reservations for my dad's birthday, and the earliest available was 7:30pm, which worked out.

We were seated pretty fast.  We ordered at 750pm and did not get out food until 8:45pm.  Also we didn't finish until 9:45pm. Long service.  I ordered the halibut, which was severely undercooked.  Maybe they rushed it because we were waiting so long, but that's no excuse.

When I showed the waitress she apologized and they made me a new one.  It was good. I enjoyed the miso glaze on it, which was salty with a touch of sweetness. I ordered a side of rice as the waitress recommended.  I tried my dad's carrot pappardelle, and it was good. It had lobster, shrimp, and crab meat with it.

My uncle had penne with calamari and the calamari was very tasty. Light breading, which was seasoned with a hint of spice.  Overall, my food was good, minus the raw halibut. My brother had the salmon and he tried my halibut and said the halibut was better.

I gave this restaurant 2 stars due to the atmosphere and how it was handled.  One table was about 10 people, and they were yelling and laughing the whole time. Really inconsiderate of others around them. The only time we could hear each other speak was when they were eating.  When the table was finally leaving, they were rude to my aunt, and it was uncalled for.  It felt like it was their first time at a nice restaurant, and they did not know how to act.  The type to pay rent but have their financial priorities in the wrong areas. They continued being loud even after they left the dining area. Our waitress apologized, but to me, that wasn't enough. They should have been asked to leave, especially since they were just standing at the exit for at least 10-15 minutes being loud on purpose. The staff acknowledged this behavior and apologized to us but did nothing to rectify it.

If I were a restaurant manager/owner, I wouldn't let anyone disrespect any other guests. To me, it felt like they cared more about them because of the size of their party compared to ours. More money from them than us. Also, they did mention that table also worked in the restaurant industry, so they knew them.

A lot of people take my advice on where to eat and unfortunately I'm not going to be able to recommend this restaurant.  Word of mouth is important, and not only did they lose us for future services, but they will lose countless more.  I've been to a lot of restaurants, and rarely do I give a low rating. To me, the food and the service are equally as important.

Due to the atmosphere, how long the food took to come out, and the undercooked fish, I doubt I'd come back. With so many great restaurants in Buffalo such as Mother's, Hutch's, Mulberry, Gabriel's Gate, etc, I see no reason to.

They did take off the halibut and my dad's dessert off the bill. Instead of being a great night for my father's 78th birthday, it turned out to be the opposite. I asked him where he wanted to go for dinner, and he asked me to choose, for this I take responsibility. I will make it up to him elsewhere as he deserves...

The restaurant is so poorly run and the hostess was so rude that we left before we were seated. My girlfriend and I have reservations for 6:00 for a special night, and we arrived about two minutes early, but our table wasn’t ready yet. We sat down to wait on the chairs by the hostess station in the bar area, and we waited. And we continued to wait. And wait. At 6:15 I asked the hostess if we were going to be seated soon. She smugly told me that was normal to wait fifteen minutes past a reservation time, and didn’t offer us any apologies for being unable to seat us near the time of our reservation. We watched three parties walk by and be seated—at least one with a 6:15 reservation—while we continued to wait; the hostess tried to avoid eye contact. Twenty minutes after our reservation time I asked her if it would be much longer and she finally mumbled an insincere and half-hearted “sorry,” still not deigning to look at us directly. When, at the twenty-two minute mark, she asked us if we wanted to put in an order for an appetizer, we were affronted: we hadn’t been offered a table, a menu, or any sincere apologies—and she was asking us if we’d like to buy an appetizer while they made us wait? It was clear that they were interested in our money, and only our money. At that point, we walked out.

While this isn’t the first time I’ve had to wait for a table with a reservation—though this was the longest I’ve ever waited—what made this particularly frustrating was the attitude of the hostess, who tried to convince me first that it was common practice to be kept waiting fifteen minutes for a reservation, and her total unwillingness to acknowledge that she was inconveniencing us or that the restaurant had done anything wrong. When she told us it was usual to be kept waiting fifteen minutes with a condescending tone of voice it almost seemed like arrogance; she seemed to imply that as a restaurant of their calibre they have the right to treat their customers poorly. (My girlfriend and I just moved to Buffalo from Boston where we routinely ate at more expensive restaurants and we’ve never been treated so poorly.) It pushed us over the top when she offered to let us buy something from out seats in front of the hostess station by the bar; it was as if, by offering us the opportunity to purchase some of their divine food, she was attempting to make amends. Another example of their rampant—and unearned—snobbery. When we told her, at that point, that we were leaving, she just said “okay” and nodded, as if to encourage us to go, as if to say that it was for the best. An awful restaurant. Don’t ever go there unless you want to be treated like you’re worthless.

I wrote to the manager regarding these complaints a month ago and he or she...

Recently had dinner reservations for 5 dear friends, two of whom were first time Buffalo visitors here for the Garden Walk. We'd had a wonderful weekend, showing them Buffalo's fabulous gardens and hitting all the architectural treasures we could squeeze into a jam packed 3 days. They were greatly impressed until we arrived at the Left Bank. We arrived on time for our 7 pm reservation, hoping for the patio but also knowing patio tables were only available on a first come first served basis. The hostess said there was nothing available on the patio at the moment but didn't offer to seat us inside. So we waited, assuming she would seat us at a patio table soon. But after 10 minutes and no further information, we looked to see and found that no one on the patio was anywhere near finishing their meals. I then asked the hostess if we could have a table inside and was told there wasn't anything available, even though she'd continued to seat others while we waited. I said we'd like a table as soon as one was available since we'd been waiting since 7. Another 5 minutes passed so I walked into the restaurant to find a table that looked ready for guests and asked if she could seat us and give us menus. She said, with great condescension, that the menus were on the table and that we could seat ourselves. Throughout this 20 minute wait the hostess was alternately rudely dismissive and aggressively hostile responding to my questions with exasperated sighs and annoyed eye rolls. The lack of civility from a hospitality professional was stunning. At dinner, after this sour start to the evening, two dishes were returned to the kitchen, uneaten. Our server was gracious and apologetic. (BTW we tipped her based on the total of all the food ordered, including the two uneaten entrees.) The whole dining experience left us all with a very bad taste. Rather than post a negative review, I wrote a letter to the owner describing our disappointment and the hostess's rudeness. He didn't reply the first week so I called and he said the hostess only worked Sundays and hadn't been in that Sunday but that he'd talk to her and get back to me. When he called me back he disputed my complaints and said the hostess said we had arrived early and insisted on a table on the patio. She also denied that she was rude or had seated others while leaving us standing. He said he was sorry we didn't get a table on the patio which he considered my real complaint and then told me how difficult it is to satisfy some customers., and how hard the restaurant business is. His loyalty to his staff is admirable but as an unhappy customer, I think he should show more consideration to his customers. I won't...