Talise — Restaurant in Gloucester

My wife and I had an amazing experience here this past Saturday night. The restaurant itself is tucked away in a quaint, charming part of Gloucester that offers beautiful ocean/harbor views and the dining experience matches the atmosphere perfectly. Limited menu, but the food was outstanding top to bottom. We sat at the bar and the bartender Ariel provided some of the best service we’ve had in recent memory. She was very kind, genuine and hospitable and her knowledge of the menu and ability to describe each dish as well as the wines was very impressive. She knew every detail top to bottom.

I also want to give a shout out to the hostess (or whoever manages the phone). I called last minute around 5 PM to see if they had any openings which they didn’t at the time, but she called me back around 7 to give me a heads up that a table would be opening up in about 30 minutes, so we hopped in the car and headed straight there. I thought this was just overall a really kind and thoughtful gesture.

We couldn’t have been happier with our experience here and we will 100% be coming back as soon as possible! 10/10....

For appetizers we had the sea bass ceviche, oysters and burrata. All really, really good. But the true stars of the night were our entrees. My wife had scallops on a carrot puree. The scallops were definitely cooked to perfection. Very nicely seared on the outside and completely soft on the inside. I had the filete, which came with amazing cream sauce with corn. Very light touch of sweetness on the sauce that gave it a perfect balance. Meat was also cooked exactly how I asked for it (rare) and delicious. For dessert we had the panicota with strawberries and the olive oil lime pie. Both were also really good. The beer and wine selections were fantastic too. We were very happy we came and already planning on coming again (which is very rare for us). If you have the chance, definitely try Talise. You will be very happy you did. And be early enough to get parking, it can be hard...

I don't know. Maybe all those 5-star ratings went to its head, and maybe I expected more of a dinner celebrating our 32nd anniversary, but my wife and I DID NOT have a stellar experience last night at Talise. Waiter forgot to bring us bread (we just thought it didn't come with a seating, but then noticed all other newly seated tables receiving it); I asked for fresh ground pepper for my salad and the waiter brought me an empty pepper grinder; seats were of cheap and uncomfortable metal on the deck; and, then they didn't have coffee available to have with our dessert. Not a SPECIAL kind of coffee; NO coffee, period! Food was good, but no where near a 5 star rating. Scratching this one...