First, let me start by saying that the service was five stars. Normally I can nitpick something about the staff whether timeliness or otherwise - but I must say all the staff was courteous, professional, timely, and accommodating. If I were to recommend any restaurant based on the service provided by staff - this would be one of the top-ranking restaurants. They were phenomenal without flaw in any way.
Hearthside is a BYOB with a four-course menu - each course having options you can choose between. I can only give feedback on the dishes I have tried. Overall the food was above par for the most part with a few exceptions.
For the first course, we had tuna sashimi, Sicilian pistachio butter, sun-dried tomato, and octopus, cilantro emulsion, jicama, jalapeno. The tuna was decently thick and even cut, and fresh, and the pleasant flavors from the tomato and pistachio did not overpower the fish itself. It was slightly more oily than anticipated - but because of the decent size of the tuna cut it was still a delightful dish. The octopus was one of my favorites - it was cooked perfectly, and the smoke from the wood fire was chargrilled into the skin. My only complaint was that the amount of salt was a bit overpowering. I found that it took away a bit from the masterpiece that the octopus was.
For the second course we had the cavetelli cavatelli, fennel, lamb merguez, ricotta espuma which tasted remarkably rich and satisfying. I also tried the burrata flatbread which was a menu addition. While the ingredients were fresh, the burrata at the center lacked any addition of pesto or otherwise - so while the ends tasted delightful, the balance was lost in the center of the dish.
For the third course we had the half chicken, smoked Calabrian chili hot sauce, dill - it was cooked perfectly but the sauce was a little underwhelming. The second main was the monkfish, sunchokes, mussels, citrus ginger broth. The monkfish again was cooked perfectly, but wasn't anything remarkable. The broth was thin, and while refreshing, there was no component to make it cling to the fish at all. I would have liked to see the monkfish with a thicker sauce more reminiscent of a lobster dish. For the last course we had both the opera cake and the budino. The opera cake was pleasant, layers were even, and the strawberry was delightful. The budino was excessively salty - I salted nutella pudding. As someone who loves salted caramel-like flavors, I was disappointed. This combination did not work and is the only dish I would not recommend.
Overall the food was high quality and innovative. For had a few bites and was unable to finish it. It tasted like an overly the price there should be little room for imperfections. I was most pleased with the octopus and tuna first course selections, and most disappointed with the main course and the budino.
It can be difficult to get everything right with a rotating menu - I will likely be back again to see if the menu changes the difference in the food.
The staff and atmosphere were definitely one of my highest-rated aspects of this restaurant. Excellent service - and the chef cooked everything perfectly despite some small misses in flavor details.
Learn more insights from Wanderboat AI
