PLate — Restaurant in Prior Lake

In November 2023, we attended a private Italian wine dinner event and unfortunately had a terrible experience. I took the time to write a detailed response on the restaurant's website, but I never heard back. Having given ample time for the owners to repond, I'm sharing my feedback here in hopes of either assisting the restaurant in improving their service or informing other potential diners. (This is long, but it wasn't written for Google. If you'd rather a summary: lackluster, wedding-style food that seemed pre-prepared days earlier, frozen, and reheated before serving. Poor wine experience despite spending $125 per person.)

Dear Owners,

I'm writing to express our disappointment with our experience at your November 12 Italian Wine Dinner private event. Overall, we were greatly disappointed with the quality of the food and the server training.

The food quality that night was bland and uninspired. It was evident that all the food had been prepared days before. The salads had wilted lettuce, and the produce lacked color and crispness. The soup lacked any distinctive taste, and the pasta sauce was basic—nothing beyond what I could easily replicate at home with some spices and a can. The tenderloin was even more disappointing; it was clear the loin had been cooked previously and reheated before serving. Furthermore, the dessert was partially frozen, indicating inadequate time for thawing. In the end, as my wife put it, "We've had better wedding food." I can understand preparing items ahead of time to accommodate the number of guests you had, but preparing everything in advance to reheat and serve was disappointing.

Regarding the wine, it was excellent. In fact, there's one bottle we plan to purchase in the future. However, I had to request a fresh glass even when transitioning between white and red wines. I will not claim to be a wine aficionado who would discern subtle differences, but when spending $500 on an evening with friends, I expect a superior wine experience. At similar events in other establishments, changing wine glasses is standard, yet I had to request new glasses for our table at PLate.

two years ago, my wife and I had an exceptional dining experience at Plate during a regular dinner reservation. Since then, we've eagerly awaited a special occasion to return, usually signified by announcements. When this recent opportunity arose, I promptly reserved a spot, having missed previous chances. My anticipation was so high that I invited friends to join us and savor your restaurant's atmosphere. Unfortunately, I found myself continually apologizing for the notable disparity in the experience. Moreover, the loud musician made conversation challenging among our group of four.

Typically, I might overlook such issues, but with the price set at $125 per person, my expectations were far beyond what was delivered. For instance, a meal at Demi in Minneapolis, priced at $150 per person, offers remarkable cuisine. I anticipated a comparable standard in November, but regrettably, the experience fell short of what I could provide at home.

If any of my observations are inaccurate, I apologize. However, if they stand true, it reflects a lack of attention to detail throughout the entire meal. My intention in sharing this feedback is to contribute to the improvement of future events and to uphold the standards your establishment is known for. I've noticed another upcoming event night, and I hope these comments assist in identifying areas for improvement before that event...

We live in the area and heard about this place when it opened, but read some of the negative reviews early on and never gave it a chance. We recently noticed the reviews had taken a positive turn, with many folks updating their reviews to reflect the restaurant's improvements on some of the early hiccups. We decided to give it a shot tonight, and we're so glad we did.

Our table of four (plus our 2-year-old) was seated and soon greeted by our outstanding server Nicholas. Drink orders came quickly and the pineapple martini, in particular, was perfect. Everyone at our table had studied the menu ahead of time and had an idea what we were going to order, but after Nicholas told us about the specials, two of us changed our minds and opted for specials. Everyone at the table raved about their dishes: the halibut special, the red snapper, the crab leg special (HUGE crab legs!), and the tres amigos pasta were all fantastic. The bison sausage in the pasta (my dish) was so good, I can't wait to have it again. Portion sizes were very generous; it's rare I don't finish a meal but I had to throw in the towel and admit defeat on the pasta.

Some will say the restaurant is noisy, and I'd agree - it may not be great for a romantic first date, though the laid back yet upscale feel might actually be perfect. For us, we were thrilled that our 2-year-old could be himself without disrupting any other diners.

We noticed happy hour is 7 days a week, and we've been growing tired of our long-time happy hour spot, so thinking we'll be back sometime in the next week for happy hour.

I also wanted to give one last shout out to our server Nicholas - he was incredibly friendly, attentive without hovering, and gave great menu...

Everyone was very nice. The person who sat us was wonderful. She talked about a special and recommended a few things. We saw our waitress some, but it didn’t feel like someone was taking care of us. She stopped to take the order and a second and third person would come to the table and say nothing to see if there were plates to clear but it wasn’t busy in the restaurant and for a restaurant with 40 and 50 dollar entrees, having a personable server create an experience was expected and sadly missed. The steak bites as an appetizer was only ok. It tasted like high quality hamburger meat with a sauce. I ordered the ribeye and a friend ordered the ny strip (possibly the other cut). For 50+ dollars, getting only one side and no salad was disappointing, but would have been fine has the food been amazing, which it was not. The plating on my friends food was very good. The presentation was wonderful. My steak was incredibly over salted. It was cooked correctly to a medium rare which was appreciated. It was a decent steak, but just so much salt. The brussel sprouts had been cooked so much that there were more flaky pieces than actual Brussel sprouts. They were salty but cooked with bacon so expected that and what I could eat of them of them was decent. We ordered two desserts to go. All and all, the atmosphere is nice, people are nice, but for one appetizer two meals with one side, no salad, and one dessert costed $195. Absolutely not worth that cost. There’s some potential here but not realized. I was a server for a long time and empathize with many things but it wasn’t busy and the experience...