The Dish & Dram — Restaurant in Kensington

The upsell game is fierce here. Service is slow, food is just ok, drinks are the same… just ok. A friend and I could only sit it the bar on ripped up chairs. She asked for hot sauce and the lid of the hot sauce broke her plate. Instead of replating it, they brought her a new plate and said “if there’s any glass in it let us know” requiring her to replate it herself.

My order was wrong - I asked for one piece of challah French toast instead of regular toast. I had to ask for it again because she forgot. When it came it was burnt, and I had to ask for butter.

They brought and charged me for two. I ordered the $12 Dram breakfast and the bartender asked if I wanted steak or bacon. Given the option I’d of course choose steak, but there was no mention of an up charge. Fully expecting a few slices of steak to cost a few dollars more, it was fine. Instead I got a whole filet mignon.

As we sat there the bartender told us she doesn’t like kids and would like to “drop kick them”. Politely, a colleague came and told her how much a child in the restaurant liked her, likely sensing our discomfort.

Being that it was Mother’s Day, I paid for a drink for the woman next to us and had two myself. So, approximately $34 of the bill was that. Reasonable.

MY BILL WAS $83.

What a horrible first...

This is a charming little local restaurant that is working hard on achieving its aspirations of being a fine dining establishment. I would have given it solid 4, based on the freshness of ingredients and earnestness of preparation, but for a strange incident. We had ordered the duck nachos appetizer, which arrived with ketchup on it. Unmistakable, syrupy-sweet, tangy ketchup. We tried to eat it, but frankly, it was revolting. I mentioned the problem to our server, who took the dish to the back and offered to replace it with the charred Spanish octopus. Mistakes happen, and we would have gone on with our meal, but! The Manager brought over a small serving dish of BBQ sauce, and suggested that perhaps we were mistaken and it had been this on the nachos? "She doesn't even have ketchup at her station," he insisted. Seriously, man? We know what ketchup tastes like, and it has no place on any kind of nachos. Neither does BBQ sauce, but that was not what we had been served. The octopus was delicious, despite a lingering aftertaste of contempt...

My husband and I got out for a well-needed Date Night and I really wanted to get to eat out even during indoor seating being stopped for everyone's health. The outdoor seating here was well heated, well spaced, and had plastic "walls" that kept the cold wind off of us but were open enough to allow for ventilation to reduce viral spread. Staff wore their masks correctly and kept good spacing while still being friendly.

Now, for the food: amazing! We had the duck nachos and loved them. On the waitress' recommendation, I had the cassoulet with duck leg and Spanish chorizo - if it's on the menu when you go, get it! My husband had the lobster mac&cheese, which was just good - very rich tasting without much brightness or zing to it. Then we shared a slice of key lime pie, which was quite nice with a good pop of flavor.

During these times of businesses struggling, if you can afford to keep small businesses afloat, try to. And, the Dish & Dram is definitely well worth keeping...