Fleeting — Restaurant in Savannah

Date of service 04/01/22

My wife and I went to Fleeting for dinner to celebrate our anniversary. Without a doubt, this experience was one of the best dining experiences we’ve had in quite some time.

We booked a reservation online for 7PM. The process was simple and convenient. We arrived between 6:30 and 6:40PM for our dinner. We were greeted by three young ladies at the front desk and were offered the option of being seated immediately, which we accepted. We were led to a quaint 2-person table in what appeared to be the middle of the dining area. The decor was nice. Nothing too extravagant but at the same time, rather charming. We had a view of the open kitchen where the chefs were preparing the meals. Executive Chef Rob Newton was at the helm, meticulously inspecting every detail of each dish before it went to its respective table. We also had a view of what I guess would be considered the “boardwalk”… not a bad spot at all for people watching.

After being seated, we were soon greeted by our waitress and provided various options of waters to choose from to start with. Our waitress’s name was Evonne. She was very attentive throughout the night, constantly checking in on us to see if we needed anything and how our food tasted.

We ordered two mixed drinks. They came to the table promptly and they were each well-balanced and very tasty.

My wife and I ordered two appetizers to share. One was the “Warm Smoky Dates” and the other was the “Chips and Caviar.”. Each of these dishes came out quickly. The dates certainly had a detectable smoky flavor to them that wasn’t overpowering. They were accompanied with candied pecans, blue cheese, and sea salt. It was a great balance of taste and texture. The Chips and Caviar were amazing. If I had one critique toward that dish, I wish the chips were just a little bit thicker. They had a tendency to break while scooping up some of the crème fraiche. Aside from that, the caviar (Hackleback roe) had a great, salty flavor and seemed to melt in your mouth.

Our main courses consisted of the roasted chicken that my wife ordered and the strip steak for myself. Each dish was cooked to perfection. My wife’s chicken was flavorful and juicy. Honestly, it’s the best chicken I’ve tasted in quite some time. The steak - wow. I can hardly put into words how tender and tasty the steak was. It’s said that strip steak has less flavor than filet mignon, but if you were judging by this dish, you would not think so. The steak had enough fat to give it flavor but not so much that it took away from the dish. We also ordered a side dish of the grilled sunchokes to go with our main course. They came out very tender and flavorful. But honestly, with as good as the chicken and steak tasted, they were nothing more than an afterthought at that point in time.

For dessert, we each ordered the Warm Crimson Crisp Apple Tart. It was accompanied by a scoop of vanilla gelato, served on a bed of honeycomb crumble and topped with a sprinkling of tomme cheese. This dish, quite simply, defined what a dessert should be. It was filled with so many different flavor notes and textures that it was unreal.

At the end of our dinner, I even placed an order for a portion of their pastrami to have for lunch at work the following day. Once I heard that it was prepared sous vide style for two days and then seared, I couldn’t resist! I got it home and took a little taste of it before putting it in the refrigerator. Let’s just say, I haven’t looked forward to going to work so much in quite a while. :)

Overall, I can see Fleeting becoming a new favorite restaurant of ours. My wife and I are already planning to return to the restaurant in order to try out some of their...

This dining experience was awful!

Let's start from the beginning. We ordered the most expensive bottle of champagne on the menu, and after a long wait, the bottle shows up warm, partly, I am certain, because I saw it sitting on the counter next to the heat lamps at the server pick-up station for well over 5 minutes. It took another 15 minutes to cool it down. So, from the get-go, the rhythm of the whole experience is thrown off as we sat and waited. Additionally, our server seriously lacked both training and good manners, making no attempt to remedy the bad start and her answers to my menu questions were just a bit too snarky, We all couldn't help but feel like she just wanted to be somewhere else. Maybe she should be, as throughout the entire experience, she was M.I.A. with the restaurant less than half full. Where did she go? Can I get some water? Anyone here?

Not the way to treat any guest.

For dinner, I ordered the egg roll appetizer and these were certainly not egg rolls, but cigar-like crunchy things filled with minced chicken. Not good. My daughter ordered the apple salad with dressing on the side and asked to add chicken to the salad. Simple enough, but our server had to get an approval from the cook (which he was not able to do), and then the manager, to make sure that chicken on a salad was, in fact, possible (a request to add protein to a salad would be an automatic "yes!" at Denny's!). Luckily, it was possible and our table breathed a sigh of relief. When the salad arrived, the greens were swimming in too much dressing and the chicken looked and tasted like an unseasoned piece of boiled meat. Yum! Moving on, my wife and I both ordered the crab cakes-- the lady next to us had one and it looked great. The reality was that the presentation was beautiful, however, a sub-par dish at best in both preparation and flavor. The half chicken entrée is the star here, my son said it was wonderful!

Batting .250 on the food.

Long story cut short, the Fleeting is a beautiful piece of design but that doesn't matter if the rest is weak. An overhaul may be in order at every touchpoint! Do try Bar Julian, the rooftop bar at the Thompson, though, as the small plates, cocktails, service and the view are all...

I'd recommend going for drinks and starters. Don't stay for the mains and feel robbed the same way we did. My partner isn't picky, but she left 3/4 of her dish on the plate. Come here if you stay at the hotel and need sustenance. Don't come here if you're a local trying to find a new spot. Just go to St Bibiana, or Local 11ten, or Common Thread. For the price, that's what this restaurant is competing with. And it doesn't hold up to the competition.

The wine and cocktails are amazing-- this part of the staff knows what they're doing. Something for everyone. Cocktails were magnificent. This review should not reflect poorly on the bar and wine. These creators are the only ones who are in their element and know what they're doing.

The rest of this is for the restaurant:

Food was all mid, there were no singers. Had the country captain egg roll, which sounded so great, but in the product, I couldn't taste the chicken at all -- it was probably overdone with the spice. Necatrines in the stone fruit: too young, too tart. The burrata was good, but I know that was not made in house. It relied on producer rather than the cook, so it's an easy win.

Steak entree had too many additives with the burnt cheese, etc., so the sear felt like it was cheating. It came out the right temp, but was it cooked well? That's not an answerable question.

My partner's fish was spongy and cooked very poorly. The skin was not crispy -- it was slimy, even. Not seasoned hardly at all. This fish ain't die for this.

Beef noodle was okay as a whole flavor, but the beef was lifeless and the noodles mushy. There was veg to dress it, but those were for sure fashion-over-function. They added nothing. I'm unsure how you can have a dish with chanterelle where you have no issue overpowering and killing that amazing mushroom. Sorry for rambling on about this one item, but even this, their menu pride point, leaves gaps indicative of their overambition.

Atmosphere was very loud and somewhat uncontrolled. People standing around our table while we were trying to enjoy our meal. Makes the ears ring when you're...