24 Carrot Bistro — Restaurant in Erie

My wife and I went in for the Valentine's Day Dinner. We hadn't really had a chance to go out anywhere nice recently, so we were excited and had heard good things about the restaurant. The service was decent, but not remarkable. There was a four course meal that evening, and options were limited. We started with an avocado and mango salad. Not really my thing, but about the only item I could probably eat from the first course options. I took one bite of the greens and stopped. The "dressing" was bitter and sweet. I knew I couldn't continue to eat it. No big deal, I thought. There were still 3 more courses to go. I should mention that this dish was incredibly tiny. Next course, I tried the cauliflower steak. Again, I ordered this due to a lack of other options that sounded edible. It was...fine I guess. It was pan fried cauliflower. Chewy-ish. The sauce was supposed to be curry, but was mostly bland. That's it. Just a couple greens and a small piece of cauliflower. I ate it, but it was tiny and entirely underwhelming. My wife ordered the pheasant chowder. She liked it okay, but I'd say it was not for me. On to the third course. I ordered the sea scallops. There were three small scallops with a tasteless sauce and way, way overcooked bok choy. I left the bok choy as it was essentially inedible, and ate the tiny amount of scallops. It was fine. Bland, not cooked to my liking. My wife had the seared wagyu. Four or five VERY tiny strips of meat (it did not look like wagyu quality), with ONE, yes a single, onion ring. Then on to the dessert. The pineapple upside down cake was bitter and the cake itself was dry. The chocolate beet cake was okay, but had a slightly funky aftertaste. I'm assuming due to the beet. My wife had 2 drinks and I had 1. We ended up paying $230 and left starving. We actually stopped at McDonald's on the way home. For me, if I spend $230, I would prefer to be full at the very least, even if I was unsatisfied with the food. This place is a one-star for me no question, but my wife said she'd be up for trying it again if someone else suggested it and said they'd pay, so it...

Very quaint place with a great atmosphere. Food was good, but the menu is very limited - 7 entrees limited. The bar, however, has far more options and is really the star of the show. The drinks are creative and very tasty.

Unfortunately, I won't be back. 24 Carrot is another one of those restaurants who believe they need to virtue signal and slap you with a "Living Wage Fee". At the bottom of the menu they inform you they'll be tacking on an extra 4% to your bill so they can pay their kitchen staff. So, when you look at their prices, which aren't cheap, tack on an extra 4% to the cost.

I don't understand this trend. Why not just raise your prices 4%? No one would even notice the difference between $40 and $41.60. You know why they don't? Because it's their only way of virtue signaling that they believe people should be paid for their services. What they're also saying is, "Before we started tacking on 4%, we didn't believe in paying people what they were worth."

There's an extra benefit, it enables you to virtue signal as well. It lets you feel good that you're patronizing a place that believes in paying people a "living wage." Of course, no other businesses work like this. You don't fill your car up with gas and think, "Damn, why am I buying gas here? They don't even pay their people a living wage as evidenced by the lack of an extra fee." You don't buy groceries expecting to be charged an extra fee. For now, it's only restaurants.

So, if you need that kind of validation, I highly recommend 24 Carrot. Me, I prefer for people to be honest with me and price their products and services in such a way that ensures their employees are compensated fairly. Not spring it on me when I've already sat down and made plans to eat there. That way, I can make an informed decision about who gets my money.

I can make an informed decision now about who gets my money...

Disappointing experience.

Started out well. As this was our first time into the restaurant, we were happy to find this in our area. We enjoyed the cocktails and the food met our expectations. However, what started out well, ended very badly. A storm that had been threatening since before we sat down; unsurprisingly, came to pass and those few that chose to sit outside rushed inside.

Unfortunately, the management team was ill-prepared for the handful of outdoor tables (best guess is that there were 4 tables outside) needing to come in and everything quickly fell apart. Several staff members were seen running to and fro with a lot of outspoken concern between staff. Soon after, the bartender (we were seated at the bar) asked that we give up our seats for those who had come in from outside despite that we were still enjoying the end of our meal/drinks.

We were a bit taken aback that we were being asked to leave despite still being paying customers (we were still finishing our recently prepared drinks and planning to order desert along with digestifs). However, we immediately vacated our seats and stepped out of the way so that others could be accommodated.

Unfortunately, it ended up that our seats were not needed as no one ended up being sat in our seats after several minutes (enough time for us to finish our cocktails and close out our tab.) As we no longer felt welcome (we were left standing awkwardly in the middle of restaurant) - we ended up leaving and got drenched in the storm.

We understand weather can cause challenges but to ask customers that were still in the middle of their meal to un-necessarily leave (in the middle of a storm) was a disappointment for an establishment attempting to be of this caliber (i.e. expensive cocktails, apps, food, etc...). Unfortunately, we won't be back. We're sorry to see this one taken off the list...