Circe Restaurant & Bar - Providence — Restaurant in Providence

My first meal at Circe was because they were open.

My previous evening's flight home to San Diego had been canceled due to January weather. Not willing to leave my hotel, I had feasted on a scant dinner of beef jerky, Skittles, and Jameson nips the night before. After waking up with a miserable headache, I needed real food from a real restaurant, and Circe was the only place that answered their phone and assured me they would be open despite there being six feet of snow outside.

To start, I ordered the "Bloody Sunday," the latest entrant in an apparent nationwide contest to determine who can stack the most stuff possible on top of a bloody mary. Circe may actually win this. They're certainly not messing around: their mary is crowned with bacon, celery, olives, two fried oysters, a large cocktail shrimp, and a friggin' slider stuffed with blue cheese and bacon. The juicy beef slider patty oozing with salty grease brought immediate order and calm to my stomach. As brunch fare goes, it is well-known among respectable hangover artists that pancakes are for frauds. Unfortunately, the cocktail portion of the bloody mary left me wanting. I have come to learn that when a bloody mary fails to meet my expectations, it is because of one of three things: 1. not enough hot sauce (ideally I'm looking for a 55:1 Tabasco-to-tomato juice ratio), 2. no Worcestershire sauce, and 3. not enough horseradish. In this case, Circe was guilty of all of these offenses. In fact, no Worcestershire at all. A bloody mary without Worcestershire sauce is like a baby without scissors; it is weak mixture of vodka, tomato juice, and citrus, which is what Circe's bloody mary tastes like. For this, I give them an "A" for vision but a "B-" for execution.

Don't worry, things got a lot better.

The "Braised Short Rib Benedict" redeemed all other ills. The silky, shredded short rib blended perfectly with an egg yolk and spicy chipotle hollandaise sauce. I took my time swirling pieces of their crispy buttered English Muffin into the unsightly but delectable mixture, each forkful rejuvenating me back to a basic level of adulthood stripped away the previous evening. The "Pork Belly Brussels Sprouts Hash" was not really a hash as much as it was a collection of chopped meats and grilled vegetables thrown together, but the combined flavors were familiar and comforting, helping to finish off whatever remained of my hangover.

I would be back a few months later, and I'd indulge in their "Duck 3 Ways," an entrée that delivers on its promise: a delicate duck breast drizzled with a pleasantly tart cherry sauce; a crispy piece of confit duck leg; and a duck ragù over pappardelle. If that seems like a lot of food on one plate, I assure you it was. I did not spare any of it. I also nibbled on a platter of local littleneck clams, which were murky as one would expect, but fresh. Everything was chased with several well-made cocktails, for which I won't complain. However, I'm sad to report that there were no hamburgers on top of my negroni.

Before the great toilet paper drought of 2020, Circe was on its way to becoming a frequent haunt of mine during my trips to Rhode Island. They were there for me when I needed them, and I appreciate them for that. I think of the eateries that are taking the biggest financial hit due to the pandemic, and it's grown-up restaurants like Circe that are being hit the hardest. I hope they're not being forgotten by locals as a take-out option and that I can enjoy future meals there when I can safely...

Duck eggs rolls- tasted like spring rolls from local Chinese spot. No duck to be found. “Ya it’s grounded”. Oysters, calamari, squash soup was very good. The waitress was friendly but atrocious at the skills necessary to be a server. We had to ask for bread. Meal: short rib with risotto and spinach. Risotto and spinach was hot and my short rib was COLD. My partners short rib was room temp. It was obvious the short ribs were precooked. Told the manager, he took mine to reheat it. Didn’t offer to take my partners. That plate was back in less than 2 minutes. Did not replate it. It went from cold to luke warm. I pointed it out to the waitress. This time they actually heat it up, still kept it on the same plate 😂. They never offered to warm my partners. I guess they expected one person to eat their food while the other sat and watched and not each TOGETHER. When manager saw the plate come to the table for a 3rd time he came to say sorry and asked if we wanted a drink on the house. Gracefully accepted. He brought 1 shot to the table. (Table of 2 ppl, so far we had 3 drinks and 1 shot before our entree came. I guess he assumed we weren’t big drinkers) Just ignorant. The short rib with risotto spinach was really good once warmed up 3x. My partner never ate theirs since it went from room temp to cold while waiting for mine to bounce back and forth from the kitchen. Then they brought out a cake for me (my partner brought the cake in earlier for me as a surprise) candles was nice. They dropped it off and kept in moving. No plates, no silverware, just negative vibes. At this point we asked for the manager, stunned to see it was the guy who returned my cold to Luke warm short rib in 60 seconds. He said he was embarrassed and apologized. He said he would remove the cake cutting fee. What fee when there was not even a knife to cut ? Waitress finally reappeared and took zero accountability. “He wanted the cake to be a surprise”. At this point I’m wondering if something was wrong with this girl bc how is your excuse for not delivery plates and silverware bc the cake was a surprise. This girl carried a cake to the table with a candle in it and did not then proceed to bring a knife, plates or napkins and was not able to process where she went wrong. The manager ended up cutting her off because she was only seeming more incompetent with each sentence. Anyway, manager was nice enough to take $30 off the bill. He said he was embarrassed over everything that happened and then took $30 off. You have a lot to be embarrassed about. Awful experience. For reference - you’ll see he took $5 off two entrees and then there is the $20 off for the shot he offered. So he remedied for our spend $10. Imagine having to reheat a guests entree three times and taking $5 off the...

I want to preface this review by first saying that my boyfriend and I have been to Circe during restaurant week twice and loved the entire experience. Food, atmosphere, our server, etc. were all perfect. And that is why this review is high.

However, this past weekend (Columbus Day weekend - Sunday), I went to a wedding and there was supposed to be an after party at Circe. Now, I wasn't involved in the planning (or possible lack thereof), so I 100% DO NOT blame Circe for the miscommunication that may have taken place.

We walked into the restaurant and I gave the name I thought was supposed to be on reservations (I assumed there had been some made - I was just a wedding guest). The woman on bar gave me a rather rude look and snippy reply of "No, there is no wedding reception here. We're closing soon." When I explained that it wasn't an actual reception, just an after party she replied rudely again with, "No, no reservation, we're closing in 30 minutes." Obviously I was a little confused because the wedding site had listed Circe as the after party venue, but no big deal. I just didn't appreciate the bartenders attitude. We walked outside for a minute to regroup and see what the plan was. One of the other staff members (a man) came out and apologized for the mix up, which was appreciated. A few more wedding guests arrived and we decided to go in anyway and grab a quick drink while we waited on the bride/wedding party to get back to us about new plans.

No one was loud, or overly drunk, or rude to the bartender. Yet, she continued to give us (there were maybe 6 of us) dirty looks and flat out ignored one couple that was with our group when they tried to order a drink. Last call had not been announced, others around us were receiving pleasant service by the same woman giving us attitude.

I fully understand the frustration of people coming in towards the end of a night (especially people who were just at a wedding). But I must reiterate that NO ONE was belligerent, loud or even a little visibly drunk. We weren't disruptive and we were polite to the bartender that was rude to us.

If this review gets back to the woman behind the bar (and I hope it does) - next time, fake it until your night is actually over. You were still open for business and you made a big deal over doing your job. It 100% effected your tip. Had you been courteous and polite, you may have received the normal 20% minimum we always tip (and likely more, since it was at the end of the night). Instead, you were rude and you pissed us off, which resulted in a much lower tip. You were lucky my boyfriend was handling the bill, you would have gotten ONE cent from me.

Circe - please remind your staff that their job is over when you close, not when they are...