Mabel Gray — Restaurant in Hazel Park

I don't understand the hype (over the food). Your opinion might vary. My wife wanted to go here for her birthday since it was recently listed as Hour magazines restaurant of the year (not sure why). So it was with great anticipation that we went on a Tuesday night. My standard for fine dining is The Lark. A high water mark for sure. So everything I review that is supposed to be fine dining is measured against that standard. Starting with Service. 5 stars. The service was excellent. The drinks, very, very good. The handwritten menu, difficult to read in the dim light. Seemingly limited. Another place where you order a bunch of stuff and share – which seems to be all the rage. That and the menu supposedly changes frequently. Sounds good on paper, but how do you really perfect something if you are constantly changing it to something else? Lots and lots of what appear to be vegetarian dishes, but very short on dishes for the carnivore except a 100.00 steak. Let’s begin: We were talked into the Radish Carpaccio. Not great. NO flavor beyond the goat cheese, toasted nuts and balsamic vinegar. How can a dish be carpaccio without any raw meat? I should have known something was up after that. I was interested in the oysters, and our server brought me one to try indicating it was on the house (except it did appear on the bill – oh well). It was tasty with real wasabi, but also very tiny. Next we had the grilled asparagus. This had a lot of flavor and a bit of spice. We really liked this. My reaction was wow (the best thing we had all night). The next plate was charcoal grilled Hokkaido scallop (singular). One scallop, cut into four pieces skewered with some pork, and peppers with a white sauce I could not place. It was also lovely. It was then I noticed Charles Bradley playing on the speakers. That gets an extra star for atmosphere. The next dish was the seafood dumplings. Mild spice, great savory flavor from the red curry almost akin to saffron. This was also nice. Finally, we finished with the lamb neck and collard greens quesadilla. Meh. The collard greens hurt this dish in my opinion. Bitter. Yuck. Seriously, I cant believe people equate collard greens with fine dining. It doesn’t work. Stop it. This was what really ended up putting me off the whole meal. Literally left a bad taste in my mouth. Finally we wrapped up with a nice port corked table side with bits of cork in our glasses from the dried out cork. This was followed by a Cornflake torte which was unique and yummy. All in all, for the amount we paid, it was no where near worth it. I don’t understand the hype around these chefs that constantly change the menu never spending any time to perfect something that would earn you a Michelin star. Of course your mileage might vary. You might really like Mabel Gray. I probably won’t be back for the food. The service on the other hand was excellent. Oh, be advised that they also charge you an extra 20% on the top for a service fee, and ask for more tip beyond that. No problem,...

We went to Mabel Gray on October 7th and ordered the tasting menu (recommended). If interested, Mabel Gray also offers a beverage pairing for an additional fee (also recommended). If you’re worried about getting enough to eat, the tasting menu is 8 or 9 small dishes. It turns out to be a fair amount of food. We felt it was enough (though we did order another dessert!).

For our dinner, the theme was “fall”. While we could definitely sense the chef’s inspiration, the theme lacked some cohesion. Some of the dishes didn’t seem to “fit” (though they were tasty). When the theme did come through, it leaned toward heavy in execution (which was a pity as some of the taste combinations were quite clever). In general, the food preparation was good (prior statement not withstanding) though hot courses reached the table lukewarm (particularly the protein courses). The waitstaff were attentive when delivering courses. Their explanations of each dish were detailed and interesting. However, getting their attention between courses was a bit of a challenge. 50/50 on whether we’d try another tasting menu in the future — though I’d definitely recommend it for your first visit. Value for money was “ok” (it would have been good value had the issues above been resolved). I’m not suggesting that the overall experience wasn’t good. It was. We just don’t think our particular experience was 5 stars. Admittedly, we’re also tough graders. We’d have rated the experience 4 stars until the situation below happened…

Mabel Gray’s includes a 20% gratuity in the bill. I was on a knife’s edge of having it removed and replaced with zero, but didn’t as it would affect the servers (who earned the tip) vs management (who made the poor decision). What’s more, they then added a line for an additional tip on the paper bill. I just think that’s tacky. It made an otherwise nice evening end on a sour note. I’m generally a pretty healthy tipper, 20% when I’ve been treated well, but Mable Gray’s approach just turned me off. Net/net - I dropped another star off the review for this tactic. It’s funny, had management simply stated the meal was “service compris” it wouldn’t have bothered us. It was more a matter of how it was handled at the end of the meal by the...

After much anticipation my girlfriend and I visited Mabel Gray this week to celebrate my birthday. With so much hype surrounding the restaurant we tried to stay open minded and go with the flow unsure of exactly what to expect. Two things about the experience unfortunately set it apart from the "finest of dining" experiences. 1st our reservation time was not honored, we didn't reach our table until 20 minutes after our reservation time and didn't get our drink order until about 30 minutes in. We had a long period of sitting at the table before anyone acknowledged us which felt inappropriate for the expectations of an upscale venue. The vibe of the service was frantic and a bit stressful, despite our servers best efforts it felt like we were a task to be taken care of or a chore to handle rather than welcomed guests. The second thing that really let us down was the fact that both tables next to us also were having the chefs tasting menu but we're roughly one course ahead of us. We watched courses come through to their tables, then ours all 8 identical, for the final entree both tables next to us received the dry aged steak fries with potatoes. We were very excited as I, a person who doesn't get too excited about seafood was really hoping we would get to taste the steak. Then it never came. We received lamb chops like the other two tables but no steak. It was really a bummer and frustrating that despite paying for the same chefs tasting dinner we did not recieve the same meals. Other than that everything was fine but really just fine. the cocktail menu was short and sweet, the food was different and it was flavorful. But nothing revolutionized my perceptions of cuisine and between the underwhelming service and frustration with the different entrées. For over 175$ a person I think we'd rather save our most lavish nights out for better places like Selden Standard and SheWolf. Mable Gray was very good, but unfortunately the hype...