Peasant Village Restaurant — Restaurant in San Angelo

02 MAY. I GOT A RESPONSE FROM THE CHEF EARLIER THIS EVENING APOLOGIZING AND HOPING I WOULD COME BACK AND HE WOULD MAKE THINGS RIGHT. I RECEIVED THAT AND MADE A RESERVATION FOR NEXT MONTH....A FEW MINUTES AGO...I GOT A RETRACTION THAT IS ...WELL...YOU CAN READ IT BELOW.

THIS WAS MY RESPONSE TO THE RETRACTION:

NOT A PROBLEM. I WAS POLITE. I DID NOT SAY ANYTHING IN AN UGLY MANNER. I TIPPED. I DID NOT IN ANY WAY INSULT OR DISRESPECT ANYONE. ASKING TO NOT BE SEATED NEAR CHILDREN IS A REASONABLE REQUEST (AND THE HOSTES ACTUALLY STATED SHE UNDERSTOOD). EVERYONE HAS PREFERENCES AND AS A PAYING CUSTOMER...I SHOULD HAVE THE SAME FREEDOM TO MAKE REQUEST AS ANYONE ELSE. THERE IS NOT ONE WORD IN MY REVIEW THAT WAS NOT HONEST. YOU ARE VERY HOSTILE AND DEFENSIVE. I REALLY LOOKED FORWARD TO THAT VISIT...PARTLY BECAUSE OF A REALLY LONG WEEK AND THE A/C ISSUE...BUT REALLY...AGAIN. IN A FINE DINING FACILITY ALL GUESTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO ENJOY THEIR EXPERIENCE (INCLUDING THE SOLO DINER). I'M SORRY YOU REALLY AREN'T ABLE TO ACCEPT MY OPINION AND WOULD RATHER MAKE BASELESS ACCUASATIONS.

26APRIL2024/1830

A THREE IS A LITTLE GENEROUS. I'M GOING TO VISIT ONE MORE TIME TO SEE IF THIS MEDIOCRE EXPERIENCE WAS JUST A BAD NIGHT...OR SERVER SPECIFIC. I MADE A RESERVATION HERE AFTER A CO- WORKER RAVED ABOUT THE PLACE. I DO ALOT OF FINE DINING...TEXAS, NATIONAL, AND INTERNATIONAL. I NEVER EXPECT PERFECTION...ALTHOUGH SOMETIMES I GET IT...BUT WHAT I DO EXPECT IS TO BE LISTENED TO...I SAID...I WANTED MY COCKTAIL AND TIME TO ENJOY IT BEFORE MY MEAL.....MY COCKTAIL NEVER ARRIVED (I DID ASK IF THERE WAS HOPE)...MY SALAD ARRIVED...STILL NO COCKTAIL...AND NO TOMATOES ON THE SALAD...THE SERVER TOLD ME SHE DIDN'T THINK IT CAME WITH TOMATOES...I SHOWED HER THE MENU...FINALLY MY COCKTAIL ARRIVED. I HAD ABOUT 1/3RD OF MY SALAD WHEN SHE BROUGHT MY ENTREE (AGAIN, I HAD ASKED FOR TIME TO HAVE MY SALAD BEFORE THE ENTREE). I PUT MY SALAD ASIDE TO HAVE MY ENTREE...WHICH WAS...DISAPPOINTING...I FOUND THE LAMB TO BE TOUGH AND CHEWY. THE GREEN BEANS ALSO TOUGH. WHAT WAS IDENTIFIED AS DEMIGLAZE...LOOKED AND TASTED LIKE JARRED BROWN GRAVY. MY OLD FASHIONED WAS EXCELLENT. THE HOTESS (LINDA, I THINK) WAS VERY NICE AND EFFICIENT. MY SERVER WAS...NICE AND NOT SO EFFICIENT...WITH TOO MANY EXCUSES. I'M DISAPPOINTED BECAUSE I HAD LOOKED FORWARD TO A DECENT EXPERIENCE AFTER A BRUTAL WEEK. IF MY NEXT VISIT IS BETTER...I WILL UPDATE THIS REVIEW...IF NOT, WELL...TWO WOULD BE MY LIMIT...BECAUSE WHILE I AM HAPPY TO PAY FOR FINE DINING...TONIGHT WAS NOT IT...TRYING...

We were driving through San Angelo and decided to stop at the top rated Peasant Village for dinner on a Saturday night. First of all, I read a lot of the reviews and this is NOT fine dining. The location is cute, but it was awkward walking directly in to a dining room full of people. We had called ahead for a reservation, but there wasn’t a wait when we arrived at 6pm. We were seated immediately and had to wait a few minutes for an available menu board. My suggestion is to nix the menu board and print out the menu daily. We ordered the crawfish flatbread as an app and a Greek salad for my husband. The flatbread was delicious, but the salad... this is not a Chili’s. Dress the salad, please. Dressing came in a ramekin on the side. It also would have been nice to have a variety of greens in the salad instead of just romaine. Our choice of entrees was pretty uninspired. A couple of steaks, salmon in white sauce, chicken in mushroom sauce, a couple of pasta dishes. Every entree came with the same sides except the pasta: mashed potatoes and mixed veg. Not what I would call fine dining choices. My son had the sirloin which had a sweet bbq sauce on it. He said it was too sweet, but the cut itself was good and he loved the potatoes. My husband had the chicken and it was just ok. I had the salmon. Again, just ok. It wasn’t fishy, and it was seasoned well. The presentation was rustic. It reminded me of a bistro we went to in Paris, actually. Not a terrible criticism, but it just wasn’t fine dining as the website, reviews and pricing suggests. We had the creme brûlée for dessert, and it was good. The plate it was served on though was covered in what seemed suspiciously like Hershey’s syrup. It was these little things that brought down the whole experience.

Overall, we agreed that the food, while tasty, was old-fashioned, and that the whole place seems like it’s having an identity crisis. The wait staff and food are not fine dining caliber, but the atmosphere is sort of stuffy like they are playing as if it is. We would probably not go back for dinner, but when we drive through at lunch time will stop by to...

We’ve been looking forward to dine here, but unfortunately it was a great disappointment. We wish the latest menu had more variety, almost all the mains were just meat. We admittedly read too much into what we were getting with the Greek Atheni quesadilla, but either way $28 for some grilled pita bread with some chicken and cheese is a rip-off. We felt especially fleeced to pay $10 to split for extra “starch + veg,” which was just a small Greek salad. $38 for two quesadilla sections each and a salad. I don’t mind paying for good food, but there was nothing here to warrant the price. That was a $12 level meal. I wish the water had been filtered, as it tasted like chlorine (though that’s not unusual in the US). The truffle fries were pretty good. Overall not worth the money.

EDIT: Wow. I've always been amused by posts online of places attacking the customer for leaving a bad review, but it's never happened to me before. I waited tables myself for years, the last thing I would ever be is rude to staff who work hard for less than minimum wage. Our server was very friendly, by the way, and we rounded up from 20% to tip. My review was only about the food. For how exceptionally awful the owner claims we were, funny he didn't mention a single example. 🤔

My gut tells me my review struck a nerve, but what I wrote was factual so he couldn't defend it and attacked our character instead. The good news is, you don't have to solve the mystery of whether the customer was/wasn't a jerk - regardless of who is telling the truth here, $40 to share a quesadilla and some lettuce is way overpriced. My rating was originally 3 stars, but I changed it to 1 star because of the owner’s...