This atmosphere had so much potential. The venue is cool, the seating is comfy, and the ambiance could be awesome — if it weren’t shockingly loud. I wish it could be somewhere we might be regulars.
But in a city with a lot of delicious, upscale and mid-scale restaurants, atmosphere isn’t enough to keep people coming back when it’s the only positive thing about the experience.
Despite a reservation we sat in the freezing entry for five minutes before being seated, which should perhaps be expected at a crummy restaurant but at a place like this the crowded standing-room-only wait was stupid. Especially after sitting in a valet line for ten minutes.
The hostess who sat us was nice, got us our water right away, but then we waited 20 minutes for the waitress. I tried to make eye contact with one of the 20 servers and managers bustling everywhere and talking loudly, but literally no one even glanced my way. Finally someone came to drop off a glass of wine that wasn’t ours, so I politely told her it wasn’t for us and we hadn’t seen a server yet. Two minutes later we got a server, who thanked us for our patience and took our starter and cocktail orders. No problem, sometimes things get crazy.
They came out quickly, delivered by other people, but we drank the drinks, waited forever for oyster utensils and eventually ate them without, and were sitting with empty dishes for another 10 minutes before the same passed by and asked if we wanted a second round. I said we had only seen our server once, (30+ minutes ago) and needed to order our food and another round of drinks. With an unconvincingly-sweet smile she offered to take our order herself, making me feel like a demanding Karen when I was in actuality being way too polite for having been sitting so long without attention.
The food was pretty good and the kitchen / bar was quick. The 100 steak was far under the standard I expect for a steak of that presumed quality, but good enough I wouldn’t complain about anything other than the value. I would skip the oysters and carrots, if someone decides to brave the experience, but the cocktails and steak tartare were great.
After this we finally saw our server again when we were finished (no one even checked on the quality of the steak), where she offered to bring a dessert menu and we accepted. She brought it right away, we picked a dessert, and then waited another 15 minutes for her to come back so we could order it. Rather than order we gave her our credit card and asked to just pay.
After the world’s worst service experience, I expected someone to come explain and make it right, but there was nothing. No free round of drinks or starter, not even bread to the table. We walked out $300 later annoyed and agitated.
To the restaurant: I’ve read the responses to the other negative reviews where people have been told to give you another chance (“everyone deserves a second chance right?”) but without an offer to come try again with at least a discount you’re asking us to again pay $300 to “give it another shot?” It’s bad online reputation management on top of a terrible experience, and if it weren’t so aggravating it would be laughable.
Save your money. Save your blood pressure. This restaurant doesn’t live up to SLC standards for cool, delicious dining.
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