TRIA - Inspired American Cuisine — Restaurant in Dearborn

What a disappointment. The entire experience was a disaster.

After driving 275 miles, we arrived about 5 minutes after the rest of our group. When we arrived, a tablet computer was laying at our placewith about five entrees and a couple of accompaniments. What a head-scratcher that was. I use a tablet, but how this app worked was a mystery to. Finally one of our group said, "Oh you got here late. They didn't explain how the menu works to you."

On to the next course - drinks. I ordered a Whiskey Sour, that was nearly transparent, no froth, and quite sweet. Passable.

When it came time to order, the server wrote down one of two pasta entries for my table companion. When it arrived, it was a large shell pasta, not the angel hair he was expecting.

He was not able to question it, because our courses were served by a food runner. All the runner could do is ask, "Who had the salmon?" Throughout the meal, our server never checked back to see "how things were tasting." Throughout the meal, a gentleman, dressed in sport coat and dress slacks kept bustling around the room. Doing what, I never discerned. I expect he was a member of management, but never bothered to ask anyone how their meal and service was.

I ordered a Lobster-Mac-and-Cheese entree. I'm a Mac lover, and like to see how others prepare it. Another disappointment. The Mac-and- Cheese deli item that I buy at Costco far beats this one. In fact, it's a lot like the Costco brand - spiral, hollow pasta. In fact, if you don't eat the Costco in 3-4 days, it gets very dry, and shows no signs of cheese sauce. I think Tria is taking a shortcut here. The lobster tail was about 3" x 1" and overcooked. With tip, that set me back $30 (bar whiskey sour -$9, french onion soup - $8).

As we were finishing up our main course, the busser came to the table several times to remove items, even though we were still eating. The extra bread and butter were the first to go. Most knowledgeable diners know how to place their knives and forks to signal that they are finished. This busser only reacted to the plate being moderately clean, and woosh - off it went. I'm used to servers and bussers leaving drink glasses on the table until they are offered by the diner, or the party departs. Not at Tria - get 'em back to the dishwasher.

Finally our server makes her third appearance of the evening (second was drink orders) to ask us about desert or checks? No offer of coffee, or an after-dinner drink.

I forgot to set the scene, earlier. We were a party of seven, arriving at 5:30 PM on a Friday evening with the restaurant about 10-15% occupied. We left around 6:45 with a 50% occupancy. The restaurant is located in a Ritz-Carleton hotel, with top-hatted doormen! Too bad their class act does not spread throughout the building.

I felt obligated to leave a 20% tip, because it was obvious that the tone of the workers was set by management. Our server was not focused on service, but instead efficiency. In West Dearborn, there are many classy restaurants. This one does not qualify.

To quote the late husband of one of our group that night, "The food might not be good, but the...

I visited the bar just after 7pm on Monday, May 13th. As soon as I sat down I was greeted by a woman named Mary. She promptly took my drink order, almost before I was fully seated and I had my beer in hand almost as quickly as I was settling into my chair. Impressive, thank you Mary. Unfortunately, that level of customer service was short lived. It was busy, there were no seats left at the bar. I was the only female sitting at the actual bar, which really is insignificant until the level of customer service tanked.

As I stated, it was busy. Mary was back and forth from the main dining area to the bar. It appeared that tending the bar was not her primary focus, no biggie. Not long after I sat down another woman appeared behind the bar. What brought my attention to her was her complete lack of concern or respect for her surroundings. She began spraying some sort of cleaning agent into the air while aiming the mist at a cleaning rag, all while people had exposed food and drinks within feet of her!

I realized she was another bartender when she started wiping things down and cleaning up behind counter and checking in on people at the bar. I began to get frustrated when she would ask the men (remember I was the only female at the bar) if they were okay, or if they needed anything and completely bypass me. I lost count on how many times I had to hear “do you need anything babe” before I finally had to practically raise my hand to get served another beer.

At this point I am getting frustrated. The way she was zipping in and out of the bar area, wiping surfaces down and almost throwing herself at the men while ignoring the only female at the bar was so obvious, it was almost comical.

Rachel served me 2 beers, Mary served me one. When I was finally able to get my bill, Mary appeared behind the bar just as I was asking for it. Rachel asked Mary if she could print it for her. Before Mary printed she said, “2 Michelob Ultras?” I had 3, Rachel forgot to ring one in. Now, Rachel did speak up and say no, there should be 3, I will give her that. But, from a business standpoint, think about this. If Rachel had walked away for any reason and someone else gave me my bill, I could have essentially walked out with a free beer. I mean how many people are going to correct a mistake in their favor? How many other times has this happened?

The beers were cold, I got to experience one amazing customer service experience and one disheartening customer service experience all in one visit. I can’t say I won’t be back, I just hope if I ever am I never have be served by Rachel. She clearly doesn’t think females are worth her time, which is a shame for her because I’m normally a very generous tipper. If it was not for my positive experience with Mary, I would have given less than 3 stars. If Rachel had been the only bartender I encountered I would have left a 1...

Very interesting and delicious food, vegetarian options, comfortable surroundings, and a great drink list make this a preferred special occasion destination. My wife and I have gone several times, for birthdays, anniversaries, and one year a really interesting Thanksgiving dinner. We've never left disappointed, but we usually leave very full.

Last night, we went for Dearborn Restaurant Week. They'd changed up the menu slightly from the posted menu, but aside from one dish that was removed the changes were all for the better. We chose the three small plates option.

First, we got the always-interesting complimentary bread basket. The cheese flatbread, the only standby of the basket, is unique and a little too addicting. They also had tiny, warm onion buttermilk biscuits, and extremely delicious cheese popovers, a charming Midwestern addition to the basket.

Along with the bread baskets, we had cocktails. I had the William Wallace, a Rob Roy variant made with aged vermouth. Excellent. She had the Absinthe Minded, a carefully layered absinthe cocktail with mint and a fruit liqueur. It seemed a little busy to me, though gorgeous. She really liked it, though; maybe it was just the contrast with the simplicity of mine.

For starters, I had the roasted tomato bisque and she had the onion soup. (We split everything.) The tomato bisque was very good, with a basil oil curlicue giving it a lot of grace. The onion soup was terrific, with a rye crouton and really delicious raw milk raclette cheese. I do like my French onion soup a little more toasted than that, but this was great nonetheless.

For our second course, she had the vegan sweet potato latke, which seemed a little precious to us in concept, but was the standout dish of the evening. Sweet and savory and a little umami combined into my favorite restaurant dish of 2017 so far. I had an almost equally good faro/apple/cherry(?) salad that doesn't seem to be on their regular menu, but should be. This was my favorite course by far.

(Fair warning: I think our enjoyment of the final dishes was crimped by the fact that everything had been so good, and we were starting to get full.)

For the main-ish course, she had the grilled cheese sandwich, which came with a tiny jar of tomato bisque and seasoned fries. We thought the sandwich, while delicious, had been a little too butter-soaked. In the context of "small plates", the fries were too much, and we hardly touched them. (They also were also extremely heavily seasoned with something that tasted like barbeque potato chip seasoning, which seemed weird.)

I had another rotating special, mussels in wine with pears and shallots. I had them hold back the chorizo, so I can't fairly review it. They were nice mussels in a nice preparation, but...