Elliott Aster — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

I was incredibly excited to try this restaurant but wow what a let down, from poor service to overly salty food.

This restaurant and lounge is absolutely stunning so I see the appeal but it feels like smoke and mirrors. We started our night at the bar and enjoyed a bottle of sparkling rose. Youd think you would save a little money getting the bottle but not here.

After drinks we sat at the bar in the back which is first come first serve and full menu there. We weren't greeted by the "chef" back there or given any bread. It was off to a weird start.

Our server Andy started off strong but when we found a hair in our appetizer, literslly mixed in with thr beef tartare, that's when things went downhill. He offered for us to get a new appetizer which we did but then proceeded to charge us for it - which to me isnt the best customer service.

We finally get our food which took over 45 minutes to get. We both ordered pastas, the bolognese and corn ravioli. I also ordered a rare filet. Holy salt ... the bolognese was inedible. It tasted as if someone dumped table salt all over it. My corn ravioli tasted like movie theater butter - so salty and so rich and not in a good way. My filet was cooked perfectly and that was decent.

The other server kept taking our dishes away without asking if we were done and not offering to box them which was annoying. When we told our server the pastas are inedible he seemed frustrated with us. I'm not a picky eater and I rarely ever send back food but if my husband wasnt a marathon runner and loved overly salty food I would've left these dishes.

We werent asked if we wanted dessert and they didnt even offer the sorbet that you get at the back bar. We had to ask, the "chef," was ignoring us. It would've been great for a manager to come out since we were having such a poor experience but that didnt happen. The servers were just talking about us at the register.

Also, parking is not validated. It's $15 to park at the vinoy if you eat here which to me when you're spending over $300 per person parking should be complimentary.

I won't be back here and I wouldnt...

First, you are welcomed with a $15 valet parking (discounted for this restaurent!). Spending $15 + tip to park so I can spend a bunch of $$ for dinner rubs me the wrong way. Consider Berns, Eddie V’s, every other high end restaurant doesn’t charge anywhere close to this if at all.

My expectations are now set high, this should be a first class experience.

The food was good, some items very good. We didn’t have anything bad but nothing “the best I’ve ever had” either.

The service was not great. We had a new waitress on one of her last days of training. She was very friendly, but poorly trained. I do not blame her, the responsibility is on the waiter training her. For example: requesting ice for water and it takes 5+ mins, whispering that we are celebrating someone’s bday and then announcing to table they will bring a bday celebration out. Minor things, but the trainer was not around to notice. The food took a really long time. I’m guessing an hour? We got mostly pasta. Broccolini was delicious but cold.

I expect spectacular service and spectacular food when you are charging premium prices. I had dinner at Berns the night before and in Miami at a high end restaurant the week before. These other dinners were slightly more expensive (although I had steak compared to pasta here) but everything was several steps above. I’m just tired of these Tampa / St Pete restaurants trying to charge big city pricing without delivering the entire experience. Oh, and when I made the reservation in OpenTable, I had to adjust party size. I called the number on opentable, choose 1 for reservations and ended up in an offshore call center that after several minutes realized I wasn’t calling about a hotel reservation. They told me to call back and hit a different number. Lol.

Increase training, hire a saxophone player to elevate ambiance, don’t let a water cup ever get empty.

I hope to try this place again someday when the experience and service have been improved. I am a firm believer in constructive feedback to improve the experience for future...

This is a new favorite of mine. The restaurant and ambiance was elegant and upscale but still very comfortable. The bars were beautiful and the lighting set a really nice mood for the restaurant.

My partner has celiacs and after they asked about food allergies, the team went out of their way to ensure that she had gluten free bread and crackers with our appetizers, as well as let her know when plates were not gluten free. At most restaurants gluten free bread is sad and an afterthought. However, the bread here was springy, light, and delicious.

We started with a selection of appetizers: whipped ricotta, olives, roasted octopus, and beef tartare. Everything was perfectly cooked and presented. I am a huge fan of beef tartare. This one was so good, we ordered a second round. The texture of the beef was perfect, the pickled peppers and other pickles added a great balance of sour to the creaminess of the beef. The shaved parmesan and fennel added a really beautiful contrast and freshness to the dish.

For mains we had the seasonal corn and ricotta pasta with sides of hen of the woods mushrooms and mashed potatoes. The mushrooms were cooked over a wood fire and if you ate this blind, you would think that this was the bark of a brisket. It was perfect. The ravioli were tender and well balanced between the density of the ricotta and the lightness of the corn sauce.

We ended the meal with some gelato. The amaretto Stracciatella and the pistachio were both great in their own right. The pistachio was so concentrated that it tasted almost like pistachio butter and has a wonderful streak of salt running through it. The amaretto was like and delicately blessed with almond flavor and a nice crunch from the streaks of chocolate.

Overall, the food was excellent and the portions were well worth the price. The meal was not inexpensive but you get a ton of value for the price. The service was also spectacular and we look forward to...