Taste 117 — Restaurant in Provo

Honestly, you get what you expect at this place. If you've never been to a restaurant like this, I would highly recommend asking close friends and family who've been there about it. My wife and I had no idea what we were walking into when we arrived, but I guess we should have looked into it a little bit more ourselves. It truly is an experiences for the five senses. If what follows is something that you would appreciate, then you will like this restaurant, otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it:

Review from the five senses: Sight: As you walk into taste, you''re met by an extremely formal setting, with quaint dining tables to each side and high-backed, extra cushioned seating posted against the walls. One might feel as if he or she had entered the formal dining hall of a 1920's five-star restaurant. In front of you sits a table with a sign depicting somewhat ambiguous directions for patrons to check in at the back register near the rear of the restaurant (I would highly recommend a host or greeter be placed near the entrance so that customers are not unsure of where to go.) After ordering at the register from a formally dressed waiter, you'll pick a table off to the side, hopefully not in the way of the common cheese tasting occupying the majority of the restaurant floor. The prices are relatively high for the portions, but I suppose thats normal for food that is out-of-the-norm.

Sound: As soon as you enter this quiet, formal setting you're instantly struck with the desire to silence your phone. Though not the place for lounging and laughing with friends, the reserved setting does project a peaceful ambience where many students come to study or where parents can come and enjoy a night of delicious silence away from screaming children. For two people out to try something new, the setting was a little unsettling for my wife and I. We were perplexed with what to do amidst the silence around us, disturbed only by the cheese tasting presented by a local chef. The cheese tasting might have been a good experience had we actually participated in it instead of observing it, but the price for the experience was more per person than we desired to spend for a simple night out.

Touch: After already feeling uncomfortable by the formal and stiff setting, the inability to lounge and relax at our table seats was even more prevalent after we sat down. The high-back, overly-cushioned seats along the wall presented little comfort as they had the user in a stiff position with little lumbar support. My wife, who struggles with lumbar pain now and again, felt particularly uncomfortable as we awaited our food.

Smell: Unfortunately we had the bad luck of arriving during a cheese tasting, whose aromas of cheese mixed badly with the balsamic vinegar and olive oil scent drifting through the building. The cheese was pungent and overwhelming enough to make us nearly lose our appetites. My wife and I were only looking to try some dessert, so the cheesy, savory smell did nothing to ease our discomfort with the place overall.

(Finally, and for what this place is known for,) Taste: When our desserts arrived we were extremely surprised by the portions the restaurant provided. The $6 lava mud cake came in a 3oz. ramakin dish with a fruity, balsamic vingerette to top it off. My $4 ice cream bowl was slightly larger, with a similar, oil-like spreading. The taste of both dishes was definitely not what we were looking for. Some might think that olive oil or balsamic vinegar with dessert might provide an unusual experience. While this was true for us, the experience was one we don't wish to have again. If you like olive oil or balsamic vinegar on your dessert, then you'll enjoy this restaurant, otherwise I wouldn't recommend it.

As I said before, ask friends or family members who have been to this restaurant and who might have similar taste buds if they liked the experience. We did not, but it was not the worst experience we have ever had at...

Short Version: The worst service of any restaurant I've ever been to. The food is probably good, but I wouldn't know because we were never served anything.

Long Version: We arrived at 8:10 pm. We waited awkwardly in the front for a few minutes, then by the bar for a few minutes, and then decided that we would seat ourselves. In the beginning, the restaurant wasn't overly busy (1 server was on the floor doing a tasting for a large group, and there was probably 4 other couples there), so we figured we would wait until another server came out to help us. We soon realized that there was only 1 other server, and we didn't want to inundate her as soon as she walked out from the back, so we waited for her to make her way over to us; she didn't. After waiting for about 15 minutes in our seats (let me add that there is no signage of if we were to order up front or wait to be served), the restaurant got slammed and I watched at least 20 people come in, wait for a few minutes, and walk away in confusion. At that point, we got up and waited at the counter for somewhere between 5-10 minutes to make an order--4 of those little ice creams. Super simple. The server said it would take a few minutes because she was busy, but she would bring it out to us. "No worries! Well just be over there in our seats." After waiting patiently until 9:15 (over an hour since we walked in), my wife approached her again and asked, "Hey, we ordered ice cream a little bit ago, do you know if it's coming out soon?" To which she replied, "Oh yeah... you did order ice cream. Yeah, we ran out a while ago." End of conversation. That was it. Literally. Wasted our time.

We originally went in with the intention of doing a full tasting, but they didn't answer our phone call earlier that day and by the time we finally talked to a server it was too late. Poor management. The servers were severely understaffed and lost out on many customers.

Luckily, Rockwell Ice Cream was open, just a block away, service was great, and the food was delicious!! Their salted...

Had afternoon tea at Taste 117 yesterday. It was ok. I have a few suggestions if they are interested… Savories were good, especially the cucumber mint sandwich. Bread was moist and delicious. Great effort on the choux bread savory. That was very good, as well. The turkey foccacia sandwich was hard as a rock, and I didn’t end up eating it because it was ridiculous. The other savory bite was ok. Scones were ok. The mascarpone and jam were good but not enough was given to accompany the scones. There should be two each for two people. Scone flavor was plain, and it would have been better to give two small different flavored scones rather than one big one, and give additional toppings. Desserts were ok. The lemon bar was too big and too tart. The chocolate brownie was good. The strawberry shortcake was really terrible. Very dry, flavorless and the same strawberry jam as the scone. After eating four bready savories and a scone, serving something bready like that for dessert was not a good menu choice. The chocolate puff pastry was my favorite dessert, but having that delicious chocolate ganache in a puff pastry was a bit weird for me. My opinion… would have been better in a chocolate or shortbread shell. For my drink, I chose the iced chocolate, which was truly delicious. The ambiance was ok, except having some music playing in the background would have been nice. It was very sterile in there. Although our server was a nice young man, we waited 35 minutes for our tea tray. Also, we never saw him or anyone else again once we received it. We had prepaid, so we just left on our own realizing no one would be checking us out or asking how our experience was. I think I prepaid my tip, which was a bad idea.

I love the idea of afternoon tea, but for $30 each, I think I would rather just get a nice lunch somewhere else and save afternoon tea for a restaurant that really knows how to do it right, which is very hard...