DISAPPOINTED. My husband and I wanted to celebrate our anniversary by having a fancy dinner. After seeing the reviews and menu, we were very excited to make reservations at Salty's. We knew we'd splurge and spend $200+, but looked forward to excellent service and food at that price point. Last night (Sat. 8/28) we arrived a few minutes before our reservation time and were greeted with "Happy Anniversary" and friendly smiles. Seated outside so we could watch the sunset. They even gave us a card wishing us a happy anniversary. Unfortunately, our experience went downhill from there. Aaron, our server, was very friendly, but seemed distracted (or perhaps he was in the weeds, server speak for too busy to handle everything.) He took a little while before greeting us. He had a large party near us, and would help them and then leave his station without glancing around to see if any other of his tables needed his attention. He took our beverage order and then very slowly our beverages came out one by one. A bottle of white wine (served without an ice bucket), one beer, one whiskey, and waters. All at different times. We had to ask that our waters be refilled. Our appetizer of clam chowder was delicious and delivered promptly. Our entrees eventually came out, and hubby's NY steak was cooked perfectly rare, as requested. His asparagus was cold, though. My halibut was covered in a bearnaise that can only be described as "gloppy". Very thick, almost congealed. But I dove right in. Didn't bother to take a photo for Instagram, because I was hungry. First bite of halibut revealed that it was lukewarm. It was cooked through. But room temp bearnaise and fish is not what I expect when I'm dropping $200 on a meal. I expected Aaron to come around and check if everything was to our liking, so I could have him take back the halibut and re-fire another one And he did...after a good 10 minutes had passed. He apologized and said he'd have them redo it on the fly. 20 minutes went by. By the time Aaron was bringing it out, my husband was finished with his meal and I had yet to eat. I asked that he package it to go. At that point, I had had a half bottle of wine, ate some clam chowder, watched my husband eat his meal, and that was it. Not exactly a stellar anniversary dinner. Aaron apologized. He admitted that he "wasn't focused". And strangely, he said, "I feel so bad. Poor baby." Not sarcastically, or snarky. Just as a way to show how badly he felt, I guess? No server should ever say "Poor baby" to a customer.

They comped my halibut, made it to-go, gave us a comped dessert in our to-go bag, and brought everything and the bill. We had to ASK to have my husband's remaining food packed up. I told Aaron that he was nice, but that he really didn't give us the service that is expected at this price point. He understood. Oddly, no member of management ever came over to seek out our feedback. I'd think after having to comp $75+ from a bill, that management might care to find out what happened. Apparently not.

So while I'm sure others have had excellent experiences at Salty's, I know we won't be going back there. Our anniversary wasn't made better by going there. It was disappointing. Merely "okay" food and mediocre service is not acceptable at this price point. I can get that at Denny's.

The photo with the halibut is what I discovered in our to-go package. Very tiny piece of halibut. I'll be eating it for lunch today. Yay??