The Grove Bar and Grill — Restaurant in Maryland

This was a genuinely awful experience for Valentine's Day. I was more than prepared for the price point as the restaurant had "Michelin Aspirations" due to the pedigree of the head chef but was extremely disappointed from start to finish. I really can't think of a worse way to spend money.

While our server Heidi was excellent she was truly hampered by the kitchens inability to churn out food at an appropriate pace and running out of food.

Once I received the email indicating that it will be a prefixe menu following my booking, I knew I was in trouble. 90$ a person seemed extravagant for a restaurant not in DC but we booked it so lets give it a shot. Once we got there we started to see the frazzled staff work through their paces. Once we put in our order, we were immediately told they ran out of the Duck. So out of the 4 entrees offered on the prefixe, one of the best ones were already finished. To say this was a disappointment was an understatement. We both ended up ordering the lamb. Please keep in mind we were seated at 8:55 PM promptly and our order was taken appx 10 mins later. Water came out fairly quickly and drinks as well.

The appetizers took approximately 15 mins after ordering to come out. It is now about 920 PM This seemed a bit outrageous because...its a prefixe menu, all these items should be ready to fire since there aren't too many things to make. The shrimp and tenderloin were both enjoyable however the shrimp was slightly undercooked and the tenderloin was fairly unseasoned with the pecan honey sauce being closer to cloying and unpleasant.

The lamb shanks arrived more than 15 mins later which also seemed like an extraordinary long time for prefixe menu items but surely that is far too long for any dinner item. It was close to 940 pm at this point. We had been done with appetizers for at least 10 minutes at that point.

The lamb was lovely as it fell off the bone pleasantly but, lacked any sort of acid, heat and worst of all, salt. It was relatively unseasoned but not unpleasant due to its tenderness. The vegetables were just fine.

Dessert was another story. We had obviously requested one of each dessert as there were only 2 offered on the prefixe. We were informed that the cheesecake had run out even though we "ordered" it at the start of the meal.

Dessert took nearly another 10 minutes and while looking very pleasant, was a rather unworthy tiramisu. We were offered ice cream just for the inconvenience, requesting passionfruit and were given mango.

Our experience was not isolated as several diners around us were also left annoyed and even angered by the food running out and the absurdly slow food service. We left the restaurant at 1030 PM and NOT because we were having a great time. ALMOST AN HOUR AND A HALF FOR 3 COURSES!

I don't mind paying a pretty penny for outstanding food but this was truly an outrage and while we were sympathetic to our server Heidi, have to really condemn the lack of leadership shown at the restaurant. The manager was nowhere to be found or if he was there, made no attempt to engage with the diners knowing full well things were going extremely poorly.

We were offered a free cheesecake the next time we come but honestly there is no reason to come back if we are to expect this type of food and service again. Truly an embarrassment and I am still thinking about how upsetting this experience was.

Totally wanted to root for this new restaurant to do well but its clear there is a severe lack of experience emanating from all phases of the service especially in the kitchen.

Giving 2 stars for the general vibe but really feels like a place trying too hard to be hip while lacking any execution to make up for it. There is literally no chance this place will get a Michelin Star at this...

Warning for a TL;DR (Too Long Didn't Read) but I want to provide a full synopsis of our experience for this budding (and aspiring Michelin) restaurant.

Great potential, with a clear vision, and some execution hiccups as well as some questionable decisions (lack of finishing on food, and finishing the space). First and foremost, we were very eager to visit given the chef's Michelin star aspirations for the restaurant in CJ Mall and the chef for the most part did not disappoint!

We tried the following: Crudo Latin Fusion, Truffle Burrata Salad, Day Boat Seared Scallops, Lamp Shank, Saute Garlic Mushroom, and capped off with the Bunuelos.

The restaurant first and foremost at its core is beautiful; its hard to not see its beauty from the outside but once you get inside between the lighting (not bright like others said but cool calm and collected/romantic) is absolutely stunning. They fixed a beautiful bar, lovely seating (albeit 2 person tables are small), and generally its a great use of the space. Questionable decision mentioned above is not renovating the front doors where the original Popeye's entrance was (common for both Benny's and Lahinch before) - leading to customer confusion when trying to find the entrance (which is by the townhouses). Really should have made that just flat windows and eaten the cost in my honest opinion; but overall its a beautiful renovation of the space with an open visual kitchen.

The food and service were the star. They swap utensils between courses (primary for many Michelin aspired locations), and ensured our glass was never not full (water or wine). Hats off to service overall. Small call out that was not mentioned to us, they charge for flat water in a bottle; a bit over the top given that our water in the county is great (and thus this feels a bit excessive).

Plates that were a star: The Crudo, the Burrata, and the Scallops were to absolutely die for; such care on the cook (or non cook for our two appetizers), presentation Tuiles, and overall flavors were absolutely amazing and fitting of the price. Highly recommend all three.

Plates that needed just a touch of finish: The lamb - beautifully prepared and tender off the bone fell slightly flat with a lack of salt, acid, or heat (not common but just encompassing heat as part of the three). It was delicious and at no point did we want to send it back, but it needs something Chef. Potentially finishing salt, or something to ramp the flavor the extra mile. The smoke some have aforementioned was NOT overpowering, and generally gave both a beautiful aroma via the cloche reveal as well a tons of flavor to both the meat, and veggies/potatoes/etc.

Plates that didn't land: The Bunuelos candidly having been to Spain fell flat for us; the flavors didn't draw you in and the desert itself was a mix of dry and overtly bitter which given the richness of the Hazelnut may have been the target. That said, based on multiple ones I have had in the past, and my wife as well we would not order that again.

Overall thoughts is that this is a new restaurant and one with big goals, aspirations, and an EXCELLENT foundation on food and presentation. Only misses for us is our mushrooms not showing (we took them in a to go instead when they didn't arrive) and some tweaking on the finishing tweaks related to the actual building/and final product of some of the food. Given the prices and aspirations we hope this improves with time.

That said, we would go again and look forward...

The food is fantastic. The burger was delicious and done right. The salmon was perfect and the flavors worked well together.

The service was horrendous. I asked the server about the martini special - $6 all day. She had no idea what I was talking about. She then left the table and when she came back, we discussed food. She never asked us for our drinks just food. She did recommend the salmon, which was a wonderful choice.

When she did come by, my mom asked for a diet soda. My mom was half way through her meal, about 10+ minutes later, and she then brought the soda.

We sat for more than 30 minutes without anyone checking on us. Our waters were empty. I had finished my food and was just sitting there with a dirty plate. We were told we were at the best table... stuck in a corner. The manager brought water, wine, food plates and pleasant conversation to every other table but ours. After my mom stared him down, he came over and she told him we needed water... just water. He got the water pitcher and filled our glasses halfway and apologized...sort of. It was half-assed.

Our server disappeared from the floor for a good 10 minutes at a time. When she came back on the floor, she never once came to our table or even looked in oir direction.

She did finally come by and apologize. She did look frazzled. When we asked for our check, you never saw her move so fast. She came by at least twice while my mom and I discussed payment and tip. We paid her with cash. As we left she stopped us to ask if we used an app to pay. No, there is your cash. She then pushed the money around and realized there was more money. Seriously? Seriously? You are a terrible server and then you think we didn't pay instead of just looking....really looking?

I have had poor service in the past but this... this was downright rude. You don't stop by for more than 30 minutes... then you stop us from leaving because you are too lazy to move money aside?

I was a server. If I was that slammed, I asked for help. I asked other servers or even the manager to check on my tables. I get it. I do. I have been there. But, I never abandoned my table for 30 minutes. There were only 10 tables of patrons. There were 2 servers, a manager, a runner and a bartender. Seriously? That is plenty of help. We were the only table who was ignored in that entire restaurant for so long. Believe me, we watched. If I could have found the water pitcher, I would have filled our waters ourselves.

Then, after seeing how upset my mom was, the manager did nothing. Absolutely nothing.

At least the food was the saving grace. And the prices are...