grove — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

As a group, we immediately gravitate to the cheeses. There are four selections. We get them all. Dancing Goat Creamery Chèvre is familiar, and most welcome, especially when paired with bright red, earthy-sweet beets; slices of Michigan apples; and a cherry gastrique. Wisconsin Buttermilk Blue Cheese on a Ninth Bridge brioche surrounded by almond butter and Concord lavender jam is pleasantly stinky, slinky, and tart. (I am impressed by the lavender and grape jam; such ingenuity!) The Grassfield’s Aged Gouda pairs pleasantly with fennel black pepper compote, dill, and compressed pear. Lastly, the Cowslip Creamery Brighid is just plain fun to eat in a moat of farm squash butter and cranberry gastrique. Cranberry? Must be autumn! There’s even a flash-fried chip of kale alongside (not a big fan of kale, but others like it).

My first course is a proscuitto salad with fresh greens, shaved parmesan, sliced chestnuts, and undulant waves of dry-cured Italian ham. Droplets of thick raspberry dressing surround the components of the dish, while a very light touch of olive oil makes everything glisten. Every bite is fresh, creamy, sweet, and delightful. I finish my wine and we decide to split a bottle of Pinot Noir for our next course.

Although Juliet is sure I’m going to order the Creswick Pork 3 Ways (which I am sorely tempted to do), I decide to throw everyone a curveball and get the Spicy Kimchi Stew instead. (Only Ivy is unphased; he orders the same thing.) Grove’s version is a shallow but large bowl of local chicken, pork belly, spicy cabbage, carrots, radishes, scallions, and dashi broth (a kind of Japanese stock). Off to one side is a perfectly poached egg, what our server refers to as a 360 degree egg, which I take to mean it is poached on all sides and takes over an hour to prepare alone. The veggies are crunchy, the broth is spicy, and the egg oozes over everything, elevating the meat. It is all I can do not to slurp up every last drop.

I don’t dig on chocolate too much, so for dessert I select the Butternut Squash Pound Cake, topped with salty caramel, star anise, and cinnamon sugar, while an oval scoop of vanilla malt gelato melts on the edge. Holy. Moley. Everyone else oohs and aahs over their desserts, but I think mine is best. I will keep it, thank you. Espresso helps fill in the gaps.

It’s funny...during restaurant week, you sometimes get to see some establishments’ Achilles heels. The added pressure of showcasing all your offerings causes the cracks to widen. Not so for Grove. They completely wowed all of our party, and we can’t wait to get back. Good job, Essence Restaurant Group. You have...

At first, my boyfriend and I had a great experience. The server, James, seemed nice and knowledgeable, and the restaurant had what seemed to be a good menu. We decided on the Tasting for Two.

For our first course, we had the Grilled Zucchini, the Bread and Butter, and Salmon Crudo- a seemingly new rollout on the menu. The bread and butter, made in house, is excellent. The zucchini, at $19, was 1/3rd of a zucchini on a bed of burrata, tasted solely of burnt oil, and had no seasoning. There was no fennel, and was sparing with the hazelnut pesto. The salmon crudo was acceptable yet was diminished in serving size and freshness.

Second, we had the Berkshire Pork Belly, which was missing poppyseed dressing, peaches, and pickled peppers. Had they been included, this could have potentially made up for the complete lack of seasoning on either the creamed corn or the pork belly; the cook of the cured pork belly was very nice.

Brought out in a surf and turf fashion, we had Hamachi Collar and Wagyu Hanger Steak. This is where the experience reached the pinnacle of distaste. First and foremost, the Hamachi Collar tasted completely fishy and almost rotten. This tasted dreadful. Our server, James, assured us that it had been received that same day, and that the staff had received portions before service. It allegedly had been served 15 times with no complaints, per our server. Maybe it was just a bad piece of fish? Our Wagyu Hanger steak completely tasted of burnt oil, a pattern for this meal. The crust was fine but it lacked seasoning, and the garlic scape was an overcooked, brown, obstacle. The salsa macha was underwhelming and left no flavor to be had. We were also disappointed that the shishito peppers were completely unaltered, raw on the plate.

Our server was very consistent in asking for feedback on the food. At first, he was very receptive, agreeing with the assessment of the zucchini, however, for the "surf and turf" course he quickly turned sour. After we sent the Hamachi back, we apologized for the inconvenience of our critique. As we apologized, James remarked we had "already said it fifteen times" in a rude tone and walked away from us. The Hamachi was replaced with Fried Mushrooms, and our dessert course was Cheesecake to-go.

We will not be eating at this establishment again and won't be recommending anyone. The price point is insane for the quantity and quality of food. Although, the bread and butter...

PHENOMENAL. Honestly, if Michelin were in Michigan -- both Mabel Gray and Grove would have stars. Yes, I put Grove on the same playing field as Gray.

The service was TOP NOTCH; I mean when the servers carry around a CRUMBER (our server Julie informed me of the name), you know they're not messing around with service.

*The food is creative and delicious...

I mean who thinks up Beef Carpaccio inspired by Banh Mi?! I'm still thinking about that incredibly fragrant shallot aioli.

I also don't eat lamb at 99% of places and Grove's lamb chop (farro verde * green onion yogurt * date vinegar * herb salad * sumac) was INCREDIBLE. No gameyness and the flavors were so punchy and flavorful!!

We also had two quintessential fall plates (aka fall on a plate) with the following. I know you, review reader, may not visit while it's fall but if this is their seasonal menu. I would be that any other seasonal dishes would be equally as stellar. berkshire pork shoulder (carrots * almonds * couscous * pomegranate * cider jus) squash agnolotti (ricotta. brown butter, parmesan, sage, truffled balsamic, gingersnap crumb) - the fried sage was EVERYTHING. The al dente agnolotti was beautiful. the size of these were more like ravioli in my mind as i've had smaller before but i mean the flavor was still delicious.

It was also my first time trying a Murderpoint Oyster from 'Bama (who knew they raised Oysters in AL?!) and I really really enjoyed it. Super fresh, not fishiness and the cider mignonette was perfect.

*The cocktails are incredible! I don't know if these rotate out, but I loved their take on the negroni as well as their take on the old fashioned.

*Make sure you save room for dessert!!!

*The whole vibe/decor makes you feel like you're in a big city like NYC, LA, CHI but it's right here in the mitten state.

Absolutely...