The Mustard Seed — Restaurant in Davis

Curbside Delivery Review**. (Thanks to SIP closings)

The last dine-in experience with Mustang Seed 2 years ago was average at best. $40 Entrees seemed overpriced for ordinary flavor and uninspired protein-veggie preparations. Adding wine and dessert for a 2-person bill approached $200 - it wasn't remarkable enough for that price.

However we decided to give it a 2nd try now after months of eat-at-home boredom. Seems they changed chefs and menu lineups, and what a pleasant surprise it was.

We sampled 4 entrees: Lobster Langostino Gnocchi, Pan-Seared Duck Breast with Huckleberry, Scallops in Coconut Curry, and Rainbow Trout with Crab Cake Hollandaise. You absolutely can tell the difference between frozen and fresh proteins, including daily prepped accoutrements, as the freshness literally leapt off the plate with all these dishes.

Pan-Seared Duck Breast with Huckleberry: Perfect prep medium-rare, with the excellent addition of tart huckleberry brandy glaze to balance the fat-richness of the duck. The sweet potato was a tad overly sweet, but always a good starch to pair with duck.

Rainbow Trout with Crab Cake Hollandaise: It's rare to find shellfish adorning lake or stream caught trout, but it creates a nice juxtaposition of flavor with the subtle hollandaise addition bringing the crab flavors forward. Noteworthy crisp on the potatoes. Great find if trout or crab is your favorite.

Scallops in Coconut Curry. Delicious U10 Scallops (the biggest available) were seared to medium brown perfection. Great flavor, meaty, but still tender and juicy throughout. Cutting each and enjoying each bite is a must. The red curry added depth, a modest spicy back, and tasty binder to the black rice. Great balance of the scallop richness to the curry rice mix, and added plus black rice is super high in antioxidants.

Lobster Langostino Gnocchi. The surprise best of the lot. Generous chunks of lobster meat mixed with a nuanced crème fraîche parmesan sauce. Quality aged parmesan is used and it really adds an old world Italian flair to the dish. The gnocchi is fresh with great flavor and dense texture. Many gnocchi preparations lack flavor (or worse are frozen then boiled) and lean on the sauce to hold it up. Their flavor here is uncommonly good.

Also paired with giant asparagus prepped just right - not mushy or stringy and seasoned for a savory balance to the rich cream and starch bites. And the portion was huge. Total surprise we saved extra for breakfast. As the least expensive dish of the lot, it was the favorite. Even a solo dinner with this dish and your own bottle of Chard or Barbera for under $40 is a win-win.

If funds allow, treat yourself with one of these creations. It's the highest quality dine-at-home option...

I'm not going to lie. I was disappointed. This has been a higher end Davis staple for many years, so I expected service, food, and ambiance of the highest caliber. Particularly when they require a reservation, and are NOT flexible or nice about it. You would expect that with such insistence on reservations it would be carefully patroned, particularly in pandemic times, but no. We were parked far too close to other diners once the masks came off for the meal. The service was confused, with waitstaff, servers, and hostess intermingling, and not in a good way. Usually the proliferation of staff in these numbers evokes a refreshing overlap where you are never out of anything and feel well attended to. Instead, it was almost as if they each said to themselves, "oh someone else will do it" and then wandered away for a break. The food was alternately overseasoned with black pepper (the sweet pea cucumber soup was so peppered it tasted like a singular mush, like a spicy cream of wheat) or completely made no sense in the flavor combinations. My wife's beef noodle dish was so heavily flavored with wine that she couldn't eat it, which meant I only got half of my heavily spiced steak, which had a lot of fat and gristle to it. But the really disturbing thing was the sticky tables and dirty silverware. Nothing bothers me more than leaning forward onto a "clean" table only to have my skin peel away from it like Velcro when I lean back. It just isn't acceptable and completely avoidable. Top that off with an almost $200 bill WITHOUT alcohol for two adults with one appetizer and two desserts and we won't be back until I sell off some of...

Comparing The Mustard Seed restaurant to fast-food joints, I'd generously give it 5 stars, but in the fine dining arena, it's more of a 3-star experience. Our reservation for 7 p.m. was honored without a hitch, and the server was attentive initially. However, this review veers towards the critical side.

Our meal began with warm rosemary rolls, a pleasing start. The goat cheese butter was delightful, but the tomato bisque soup left a lot to be desired, being overly sweet and in dire need of salt and pepper. The crab cakes, on the other hand, offered a pleasant burst of flavor.

The most significant snag in our evening was the painfully long 45-minute wait for the main course, with no sign of our server for half an hour. This lapse in service was unfortunate and dampened our spirits. When our main courses finally arrived, they were underwhelming. The braised duck leaned towards the saccharine side, and the braised short rib was just plain uninspiring. The accompanying pasta with the short rib was overcooked and rubbery.

In our quest to sample the menu, only a couple of side dishes impressed us. The pricing of the dishes left us questioning the value for money, and had gratuity not been included, we would have been hesitant to leave a larger tip.

In summary, The Mustard Seed offers very few culinary delights and many disappointments. While it shows promise with its unique offerings and initial service, it falls short in terms of service efficiency and the consistency of its dishes. A solid 3 star rating reflects the overall experience, with room for improvement in...