Root & Branch Bistro + Bar — Restaurant in Clermont

Overall a 4 star rating. The good: My wife enjoyed her tagliatelle bolognese very much. I tasted it and while good, I thought it was under seasoned and lacked a depth of flavor. The accompanying garlic bread was very good. The Bloody Mary was very good, spicy with flavors. I had the stepped up version and I think an addition of the pork lardons served with the shrimp and grits would have been a good addition to the garnishments. The shrimp was very nice though and I ordered another later, although I didn’t get the garnishes the second time I was charged the same. The shrimp and grits were very good. I must admit it’s not something I’ve ordered very much so comparisons are difficult. I thought the grits were excellent, creamy and very fine with a good cheesiness to them. I have to agree with at least one other reviewer that I found the dish a bit confused with the various components added, like pickled tomatoes(very good) and corn(not so sweet) made the dish a little off balance. The shrimp themselves were ok, a little more flavor and time on the grill would have made them better. The bad: sat at the bar and our spot needed to be wiped and I had to point it out as the bartender didn’t notice and was laying down cocktail napkins for our drink orders. I observed a mix up on another customers drink, where the whiskey was poured on the rocks and the waitress picked up the drink and pointed out it was wrong. Instead of remaking the drink the bartender used a strainer to pour it into another rocks glass and added the big block cube. Now, the idea of a whiskey drink served over a big block ice cube is to slow the dilution process and that drink was already diluted from the first attempt. That never should have been served. She wasn’t very pleasant either. My wife ordered a martini and her only comment was that it was cloudy. It was shaken vigorously and I told her it was air bubbles. My first Bloody Mary was a bit short on the pour and I watched her just top it up with more ice and whatever remaining mix was left from the shaker and served it. Overall, all of the drinks were a little short on the pour and I thought they sat too long in the ice waiting on the bartender to complete the drink while doing other things. That includes the Paper Plane I ordered after dinner, while not diluted, did not taste like the classic Paper Plane even though they had the amaro nonino required. They pre-mix their cocktail mixes and that might have been a factor. I usually am served it with a Luxardo maraschino Cherry which I prefer over the lemon peel that was served. Dessert was a disappointment. I ordered the seasonal bread pudding, which I was told was with strawberries and blueberries but was served bread pudding topped with cold bananas foster. I accepted the dessert and only found out the bananas foster topping was cold. The bartender later asked how was it and I told her what I thought, and she really had nothing to say. If it were me serving a customer, with that feedback and knowing I served the wrong dessert I would have taken it off the bill. I would say, overall, I would say they are striving to be top notch restaurant but still have a ways to go to get there. For example, the timing of the dishes were off. My shrimp and grits obviously were sitting while my wife’s pasta dish was being finished. I hope they get there by my next visit as the menu has some other items I’d...

Such a terrible Valentine's Dining experience at this restaurant. 3-course $85/pp set menu not disclosed when reservation made. When we arrived our server said all of her tables were surprised and some had already walked out! We should have taken her advice. Menu was so strange, nothing from their normal service menu, so we considered leaving but thought with no other reservation getting in anywhere would have been tough. We should have trusted our gut and left!

First course options consisted of raw beef, seafood ceviche, cheese stuffed mushrooms or clam chowder. No salads available at all - and very few vegetables on the whole menu. Clam chowder was gritty and contained sandy, tough clams. I chewed and chewed and finally spat back into bowl. Stuffed mushrooms were fine, three very small mushrooms served on the plate.

Dinner entrees were disastrous. Of course a very long wait, to be expected on this holiday, but a request for water was completely ignored as our server disappeared for 20-30 minute stretches. My husband's entree was brought out first (not acceptable to bring entrees separately by 10 minutes for a party of two!) First filet was ice cold as well as all his accompaniments, plus we told server that he had no fork. Sent that back. 5-10 minutes later, he received a second steak, no fork again, was warmer but brocollini still ice cold, maybe by design? Very strange. Still no entree for me. At this point we asked hostess if we could speak to the manager.

About 10 minutes later my lobster tail arrived, severely overdone and over salted, literally swimming in a pool of oil risotto - literally a moat of oil surrounding everything - with ice cold brocollini. I pulled the lobster and brocollini from the plate to eat something as the rest was inedible.

At this point, with our plates pushed aside, our server shows up and says was everything good. One look at our plates would have given her the answer. We asked at that point for the second time to see the manager. She said yes and ran away. After another 15 minutes, no manager, no dessert, no server, completely oblivious staff. We decide to cut our losses and ask bartender if we can check out with him and get out of there. After an hour and a half we felt like we were being held hostage. He gets someone who may have been a manager. They give my husband a bill of $210 (we each had a glass of wine), and we leave. No apologies. No explanation. Nothing. We will NEVER go back. What a disastrous...

Went this evening to the restaurant, which looks like it was still going through a soft opening. Unfortunately reservations were required for tonight. Nonetheless we were welcomed to have dinner at the bar, which we accepted.

The service and attention by the staff was incredible. They were available and quick to respond. The ambiance was low key. Pretty modern and relatively small. The window blinds were pulled down; likely to block out the sun during the day. However, the room would probably feel larger if the blinds were pulled up during the evening.

The bar had a good list of local craft beers on draft. The gf had a seasonal cider that was on special, which she enjoyed a lot. We always had water available to us, too.

As an appetizer, we were recommended the hush puppies, which were delicious. I could’ve order a second app and eat it on own. Definitely would recommend the hush puppies.

For entrees, my gf had the chicken and gnocchi while I had the pork belly. My gf’s mom had a salad app along with the mussels, which comes with fries.

I’ll be honest, I was excited about the pork belly entree. However, I felt it wasn’t crispy enough. I would’ve liked it a bit more cooked. I realize pork belly, by its nature, is fatty. Still it was slightly undercooked for my preference. The purée that comes with the entree, however, was delicious. They could bottle that up and I’d buy it any day.

My gf’s chicken and gnocchi was also slightly disappointing. Personally, I think I would’ve enjoyed it more than she did. However, she was under the impression the chicken would come in smaller portions and without bones. Instead, she was served half of a roasted chicken on a small bed of gnocchi. Knowing her, she would have opted for something else (probably the burger). Nonetheless we didn’t want to intrude and kept our entrees. She feels the chicken was slightly undercooked. It didn’t look pink to me, but I didn’t get a chance to taste it. In the end, she didn’t finish her dinner and left just slightly disappointed. The likelihood is we’ll return; just not order the pork belly or chicken.

All in all, the food was slightly priced higher than what we expected. I do respect the restaurant being one of a kind and local, so I do expect prices to be just higher than the usual chain. Still, there’s room for improvement and I definitely will give the place another opportunity.

I can confidently say the staff made the evening worth it. Hence why we will stop by and, hopefully, give it a...