This was recommended to us by a co-worker so we came here for dinner. I called about 3 hours in advance to make a reservation. They had no problems fulfilling the reservation.

When we got to the restaurant around 7pm, there wasn't that many people. I initially thought, what a slow place, why was it recommended? Long story short, by the time we left, the place was filled.

We ordered the Lasagna and roasted duck breast with a side of crispy brussels sprouts with parmigiano. I'd have to say that I liked all the dishes that we ordered.

The Lasagna had a heavy meat flavor and they didn't hold back on the meat either. It comes in a nice circular ceramic dish. It was good, but not as good as my own homemade lasagna =P If you're not to hungry, it can feed 2 people barely.

The roasted duck breast it cooked with the skin. The meat itself was cooked perfectly. A hint of pink at the center of the meat and tender throughout. Only thing I had an issue was the skin. Duck skin tends to be on the fatty side and it just didn't work so well with the entire dish. Reason is that the pearl barley and braised romaine makes the dish a little soggy/watery. The fat just adds to that soggy/watery feel. If they want to keep the fat in the dish for texture, they need something to cut the fat. The romaine lettuce or barley didn't do it for me. However, it's still a good dish.

I loved the crispy brussels sprouts. They couldn't completely hide the bitterness but the cheese helped A LOT. It added another dimension to the dish and frying it to make it crispy add to its intricacy. Because it's fried, it accentuates the smell of the cheese and gives it a fried/crispy cheese taste, which I liked! For lack of words, you basically tasted a lot of "fresh" things in your mouth so your taste buds were distracted with that instead of the bitterness. But towards the end of that bite, the bitterness kicks in because now the brussel sprout is not crispy anymore, it's soggy in your mouth and the cheese has more or less melted in your mouth.

Service was excellent. For the lack of staff, they sure kept our water levels high. Every staff member paid attention to detail and that's what counts!

I would recommend this place and I would come here again because I can get good food without having to go into Manhattan. This restaurant definitely is on par and better than some of the restaurants that I've tried in Manhattan.