La Cave — Restaurant in Camden

The food is excellent, the service was chaotic and underwhelming. We made a reservation a few days in advance. When we arrived there was no hostess, so after a few minutes someone came and asked if they could help us. We said we had a reservation and gave our name - they tried to seat us at a 2 top when we had made the reservation for 4. Easy fix and they moved us to a table that had just been cleaned and not set up yet. That’s fine, we had a great spot to see the live jazz. However, we then sat there for 10 minutes until someone came and asked if we had been taken care of yet- no as there were no waters, silverware, or napkins on the table. For the price point here I expect more organization and better service. The crepe was amazing, the escargot was cooked beautifully, and the wine was great. They were out of 2 of the 4 beers they had on the menu. We had to flag our server down for water midway. As a millennial who works hard for my paycheck, in an increasingly inflated economy, I tip percentage on my check per quality of service. I tipped 12% on a large tab, because of the service detailed above. We stayed a few minutes after signing the check to enjoy the live music. The server came up to us and asked if anything was wrong with the meal since we had tipped low. His reason was because the standard tip is 20%. I understand that you pay rent with tip money, however I don’t believe servers are entitled to a 20% tip just because of the stars on the establishment, if you did not provide good service. I’ve had better service at Buffalo Wild Wings. I was disappointed and a bit frustrated with this restaurant and would not return. We tipped an extra bill in cash to the server in recognition of his balls to confront us...

Tucked in here on a cold winter night. Was somewhat concerned that it was virtually empty, but it was particularly chilly and dark, so I was quite surprised to find ourselves out and about! The vibe is low light, moody. I mistakingly assumed the stone was fake because it appeared to be too well placed but have since been informed by La Cave that it is real and part of the building, hence the name. How lovely Mother Nature can be so strikingly perfect. More importantly… the food: We were thoroughly impressed with the dishes we ordered. If you like bread, don’t skip the bread basket with the garlic butter. They roast the garlic in house before mixing it with the butter, and it’s divine. I had the beef bourguignon with mash and was surprised when it arrived - not how I envisioned it would look with its tiny pieces of beef and veg - as if prepared for a small child - but oh my it tasted amazing! I actually found myself reveling in the fact that I could spoon all ingredients into one bite without being overwhelmed by a huge chunk of beef. Delicious! My husband had the Coq Au Vin and he was quite happy with his dish, although I think he was secretly coveting mine. Will definitely return to try other dishes on the menu. As far as pricey restaurants in the area, this one leaves your taste buds...

Went to the Valentine's Day prefix menu event and we were incredibly disappointed. The Owner was waiting our table, maybe 6 or 7 other couples in the restaurant at the time. It took 20 minutes to get our bottle of champagne we order. 30 minutes later we finally recieved our bread, followed immediately by our Butternut Squash soup. The soup was okay, the texture was nice but the flavor was bland. Then came the Beef Bourguignon, and what a disappointment to finally get to our entree after being in the restaurant for nearly an hour and a half and we find that both of our meals had about 3-4 small pieces of shredded beef each.

When we expressed our disappointment to the owner about the lack of protein in our entree, we were told that beef bourguignon is a stew and that "you can't make everyone happy every night" and then we were asked (again, by the owner) what we would like him to do about it. After realizing he just didn't care about taking care of us, we took our check. Were given a $35 discount off of our $185 bill and the owner refused to look at us again, we had to flag down another waitress to pay our bill.

Absolutely terrible experience and the owner will be happy to know that the customers he can't make happy, will not be returning. Happy...