First of all, I honestly dislike reviews from people who have only had one bad experience out of multiple visits. Every restaurant, and every person, for that matter, can have an off day/night, and to be judged by that ONE unsettling experience out of many wonderfully enjoyable moments, is in my opinion, extremely harsh.

Now, here is my review of a place I have enjoyed multiple times throughout the years:

My husband and I have typically gone to Sardine for Sunday brunch. I have never had a bad experience. The food is excellent, and the service is quite good. I see some people say it's slow, but in all honesty, I enjoy a meal where I am not rushed out the door. To sit with good food and good company is a delight. A meal is just as much about the food as it is about the people we enjoy having around us. So, to sit around a table for longer than it takes to get through a drive-through window, is just fine with me.

So, we went to Sardine after a particularly difficult weekend for us, wanting to enjoy a repast in remembrance of someone. We sat at a high-top table and faced the kitchen area near the oysters. Many people have said that they think this place is loud and it's hard to hear, and that could have been the case why our server didn't hear we wanted 2 Bloody Marys, and my husband wanted 3 of each of the East Coast oysters instead of one of each. No big deal, we got both settled quickly.

I very rarely sway from the Creamed Baked Eggs because, well, they're outstanding! My husband had the special, which was a mushroom/blueberry compote toast dish. I don't remember the name of the dish, and really, when it showed up, I thought it was odd to combine mushrooms and blueberries. I tried a bite of it, and I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor. Halfway through the main meal, though, he felt something poke at his throat after he swallowed. He had already pulled a small stem out of his mouth, but he felt like part of it had gone down his throat. Apparently, Sardine makes their blueberry compote in house, so it could be that in the cleaning process of the blueberries a stem had gotten through. It can happen, I know, but he felt like it was lodged and it could be problematic later, so he wanted to let our server know what happened. She was very understanding about it. She informed the manager, Susan, who came over right away, and asked how she could help. We didn't know if this would get worse, but she did what she could by suggesting that he try eating some buttered bread and hopefully that would unlodge the stem. She also brought him a big glass of milk, which I thought might soothe his throat a little, and her business card just in case something else needed to be done if it wouldn't unlodge. Thankfully, the bread did the trick.

They were very accommodating, so nice, and showed that they were concerned for him. They even comped his main dish, which I thought was very nice considering that a stem like that can so easily slip through in a big bunch of blueberries. Even every olive jar will tell you that some olives may still contain a pit, so bite carefully.

All in all, we still had a great meal, and I will always tell people that the food at Sardine is delectable and the atmosphere sublime.

One last note. Being at Sardine reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from M.F.K. Fisher:

"And above all, friends should possess the rare gift of sitting. They should be able, no, eager, to sit for hours - three, four, six - over a meal of soup and wine and cheese, as well as one of twenty fabulous courses. Then, with good friends of such attributes, and good food on the board, and good wine in the pitcher, we may well ask, When shall we live, if not now?"