Quite honestly, we were expecting more from our dining experience, especially given the many positive reviews and higher-end prices.

The first person we met was the maitre de and her welcoming felt cold as she simply asked, "Is there something I can help you with?" Not, good evening, welcome to the Cottonwood, etc." Is there something I can help you with...like I was making a demivery or I was lost...very odd to say the least.

The atmosphere, however, is excellent and if you're fortunate enough to be seated near the fireplace, you'll probably have a better experience. Even though we made a reservation and had requested seating near the fireplace, our table wasn't ready when we arrived and despite a table being open in front of the fireplace, we were seated off to the side. Oddly, that table remained open for another 20 minutes before another party was seated there.

The waitress was very attentative and checked in every so often, which is what we expected from a higher-end restaurant. That was a good part of our experience.

What was mediocre to say it nicely was the food. The salads were extremely plain and didn't seem fresh. The soups were not served hot. The calamari appetizer we ordered came very quickly and dissapointedly, was not of quality...it was soft and chewy, the kind you might find at a chain seafood restaurant. I think they don't make this appetizer when ordered. No lemon and no crispness as they served no tentacles. The sauce was bland and made the calamari even softer.

The baked brie appetizer was excellent.

The main dish of halibut I ordered was served luke warm and the fish was slightly overcooked, not what I expected at $37.

The chicken cordon bleau was very dry and the Italian ham, not Prosciutto as is usually the case, was too overpowering.

All in all, I rated the experience as average because the wines and mixed drinks were great and our waitress was attentative. I'm not sure why we weren't seated by the open table near the fireplace, especially since we arrived on time and had to wait 15 minutes, unless they have a special seating policy unknown to us. When I made the reservation, Merrill said they don't save specific tables, but she said she would make a note on our reservation. Well, that note obviously wasn't made or if it was, wasn't considered. I felt like we were treated differently perhaps as the people who were eventually seated at that fireplace table were older and apparently well to do by how they were dressed.

The serving of luke warm food is unacceptable though, especially since the restaurant seemed well staffed. At no time did a manager make the effort to visit any tables, including ours, to ask how our meals were. In contrast, any time we dine at an Applebees, someone other than our server always asks how our experience is going.

We might try Cottonwood Grille again as all this may have been just an off night. We genuinely liked the atmosphere and felt it should have been a much better experience. Maybe going for drinks and only appetizers in the bar area would have been better.