Roam by San Chez — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

Edit: i was contacted by management who apologized for what happened and said something about more training. They also sent me a gift card. Unfortunately I was traveling with my party from out of town so I will not be able to use that card. I am leaving my review up, however, so that management will make sure to follow through with what they said. Since I will not be around anytime soon to try it again and verify for myself.

I am raising my review from 1 star to something higher because I was reached out to, though.

I didn't get to eat. We came in with a party of 7, and they had empty tables throughout, but we were told they could not accomodate us because they had a party of 8 going to one of the tables reserved at the front. Those tables were not the empty ones i mentioned before.

I immediately walked out because if they didn't want my business, i wouldn't give it to them. Another person in the party pointed out the empty tables at the front, and the host said she didn't think about those, but we could take them if we wanted. I was already ready to go, but i was convinced to stay because we had elderly persons in the party who had issues walking.

We sat at that table for what seemed like forever, and no one came with a menu, to say give us a moment and we will be with you, or nothing. Mind you, this restaurant is not that big, so with us and the empty table waiting for that party it was pretty empty.

So we left, and we are glad we did. The professionalism of their staff is appalling, its like they dont want customers.

Also, to end this up nicely, we were there an hour and a half before they closed. Any other restaurant that I've ever been with didn't have a problem accommodating people that far...

Been here twice in two weeks. What a great find! Decor is worldly eclectic - lots to look at and enjoy. The service was immaculate our first visit but very slow on drinks the second time. The bar was slammed and our food was spicy so we needed water desperately. Having water carafes or pitchers to leave at the table would be a great idea!

First time there we had the hash balls, jian bing, and kati roll with elote salad. Mind-blowingly good. We couldn't figure out why the jian bing was so spicy but after looking at the menu again, there must have been a bit too much chili crunch. Next time we'll order it on the side.

Second time was four of us and we got the hummus, Anticucho (steak skewers), Singapore curry, some shrimp dish with noodles, and paratha tacos with pork. The food was good but dishes are spicy, even if they aren't labeled as spicy on the menu. I had the tacos and ordered them without the habanero salsa. Delish but even still they were slightly spicy, probably because of the kimchi? Too many spicy options, not enough mild. As I said, we went through water like crazy - as were other tables around us. The guy next to us said, "Wow I thought this wasn't supposed to be spicy." My mom was drinking all of our water waiting for refills (hahaha). The food is so good but the spice level really needs to come down a little. Or make it so there is chili crunch on the table so guests can kick up the dishes themselves??

As I said, the food, service, and atmosphere are so good and we will definitely be back. I'm just scared to order other things on the menu other than the couple items I've had that I KNOW aren't spicy.

EDIT: I wish I could give 4.5 stars. I just can't give 5 because of the...

The menu itself was pretty small, but eclectic for both food and cocktails. I was interested to try many of the items and while everything was good, nothing was great. We started with the chips & dips which came with our choice of two dips (we picked the cilantro lime aioli and the wasabi aioli). The fries themselves were great; more like pomme frites with a nice seasoning on them. The cilantro lime aioli was also really good but neither of us liked the wasabi aioli…for lack of a better description, it tasted fake, gelatinous, and gross. The hummus was good (it came in an odd cone that was pretty good and we ate it…not sure if it was meant for eating or a decoration), but I have had better hummus and would not recommend it. The Tramezzino was good, but hard to eat as it was one ciabatta cut in half then each half had a meatball stuffed into it. The currywurst was very disappointing. We have had it a couple of times in Germany and love it, so we were excited to see it on the menu. However, I am not sure what makes this dish currywurst unless there was a scant amount of curry in the marinara sauce. It was more like an Italian sausage in tomato sauce with sliced ciabatta. It was very weird and not very good.

As for drinks, I really wanted to try to Back Porch which is listed on their menu online, but it was not on the menu in the restaurant. So instead I ordered mango-Chili old fashioned which had mango-Chili paleta listed as an ingredient…so I assumed I would have a paleta in the drink, but instead it was just a hunk of mango which was pretty disappointing.

All in all, we left a bit underwhelmed with the food and drinks but the staff was pleasant...