Host Utica — Restaurant in Utica

I have to start with the service and atmosphere, as it was the most impressive part of my experience. The bartenders and wait staff were absolutely excellent. Very friendly, personable, and professional. The decor and ambiance is very modern, chic, and clean. For these factors alone, I'll visit again.

The only reasons I can't give 5 stars was because of the food. I understand the concept of the restaurant, with the rotating chefs and menus, but I don't know where it whom the quality of the food falls on, the establishment or the guest chef?

This season's chef is doing Modern Mediterranean. For the appetizer, we ordered the glazed feta. It was very one dimensional. It's a sweeter feta, with sweet apricot glaze, with sweet almonds, and even the Aleppo pepper on top didn't cut the sweetness. This was more of a dessert than it was an appetizer.

My wife ordered the steak soulvaki at $35. She was disappointed with it. The meat was under-seasoned, seemingly with just salt and pepper. That wouldn't be so much of an issue if it wasn't the only thing on the plate, but it was. The only "sides" with the dish was a single slice of grilled tomato, and a single grilled green onion over a little dab of garlic sauce (toum). The small menu doesn't offer any side dishes, so there isn't anything else to possibly order to round out the meal. It felt very much like "here, eat some meat". Even a touch of rice or even 2 ba y potatoes would have rounded the dish out. For $35, I would expect one of two plates: A very well put together fancy dish with smaller portions but comprehensive parts that complete the chefs vision, or a steakhouse style steak dinner with meat, potatoes, and a veg. This didn't really amount to anything more than a skewered strip steak with a lot left to be desired.

I ordered the Peanut chicken, with sweet potato salad and Fresno peppers. This isn't what I received. I was served the Lamb Cake with "eggplant delight" and cucumber salad. 2 out of 5 of the available entrees included eggplant and I avoided both because I REALLY don't like eggplant, so I sent the dish back. The staff fixed this issue immediately, no problems there. Less than a minute later, they served me the peanut chicken I ordered.

Unfortunately, it was served over the "eggplant delight" and cucumber salad. The eggplant delight is a very off-putting slop whipped together with no discernable or identifiable ingredients. It's cold, wet, and mushy purple-brown blend of mess.

The chicken was arguably okay at best. It's two very small thighs and a small drummy of chicken. There was maybe 3-4 oz. edible meat once taken off the bone. It was over cooked and dry, the pieces are so small it takes precision not to overcook them, and this was not given that care.

The staff quickly fixed the issue and apologized. I received the side of sweet potato salad I initially ordered and all was well...

Until I figured out exactly what happened. When I received the Lamb Cake, it was served over the eggplant delight and the cucumber salad was dressed over the lamb. If they served me lamb by mistake, and then served me the chicken over the eggplant by mistake but it wasn't topped with the cucumber sauce, then there shouldn't be cucumber sauce, yet there was. Meaning when they served me the lamb over eggplant, they took it back to the kitchen and said "this was supposed to be peanut chicken", and the cook picked up the piece of lamb cake and slammed the chicken over the eggplant and sent it out. That's the only way the chicken would get cucumber sauce under it, if it were placed where the lamb was.

Again, for $26 for 4 oz. of chicken, it needs to be comprehensive and flavored perfectly. The peanut chicken is a spicy dish with either Asian or Spanish influence, the sweet potato has cilantro and other strong, similar notes. Cucumber sauce is very Greek. The two flavors weren't complimentary.

2 drinks, 2 meats,1 app... $116 dinner before tip. I will try again with another chef, but for the price I feel a bit robbed of a...

We went here after seeing that they had a "parents night out" service that is essentially an on sight baby sitter for our kids. So, I'll start with reviewing that service.

We paid a total of $36 ($16 for baby sitting and $10 each for their meals) for our 2 kids to be cared for during our meal. Ordering food for the kids is optional if they aren't hungry. The kids were upstairs with Hannah, who we were told was the daughter of one of the staff at Host and is cpr certified. The area the kids were in was well stocked with toys, books and activities to keep them occupied and entertained.

When we ordered our drinks and appetizers we also ordered the kids meals to be sent up to them. The choices were kids cheeseburger and fries or kids chicken strips with fries. We saw those leaving the kitchen and both meals were a very good value given their $10 price tag. The portion sizes were generous and the food was exactly what was wanted and expected for kids meals.

When we were all done with our meal and went to get our kids neither of them wanted to leave. They had only good things to say about Hannah and the things they did while there.

Now on to our dining experience.

We were 30 minutes late to our reservation. Call that a clerical error on our end. The owner, who greeted us at the door on arrival, was extremely understanding, accepted our apology, and set in to making us feel welcome.

The wait staff was also excellent. Our waitress was the exact correct amount of personable and social while not being overbearing. We had some excellent conversation with her and she always seemed to be at our table at exactly the right times to check on us. Absolutely perfect service from her, we couldn't be happier.

Next were our drinks. And wow. All we can say about them is phenomenal. I could see the bartender making them and it was obvious that he really cares about putting together top notch cocktails. I ordered the Gunfight at the OK Corral and my wife ordered the Sword of Mizu. These drinks were both extremely creative, well put together, well garnished and delicious. They were an experience in themselves.

Lastly, the food.

We love the idea of this restaurant. They have different chefs come in for a period of time with their own menus. If you check the website you can see the current menu and see what chefs will be there in the coming months. It's an awesome opportunity to try foods from different areas of the world that would otherwise be extremely difficult to find. So, chances are you will not have the same dishes available as we did when you go. For that reason I won't go into crazy detail of the specific dishes we ordered.

However, Everything we ordered was excellent and interesting. None of it was boring. We both tried each other's dishes and enjoyed the variety and complexity of flavors. The entire concept of the restaurant lends itself to pleasing foodies who don't just want a meal, but want to experience the food

Our total bill was about $220 and included the childcare, kids meals, appetizer, 3 cocktails, 2 entrees and tip.

We loved everything about Host and will...

Short answer Basic and Derivative. Sorry but I wasn't wowed ! ! ! I'll explain.

Quick run down, HOST restaurant has Resident Chefs, which come and go, which results in a revolving menu. Currently, the menu de jour is "MEXICAN'' 🥱

Let's start with service. Before we were even seated, we were informed that our spot at the Ghost bar was not reserved for after dinner. Then, as I'm being told this, an employee accidentally runs into my back, Carrying a large box filled with clanging baking sheets, a plastic cover of sorts, dirty rags, and possibly a plunger, walking passed the front of the house and right down the middle of the dinning room. At $28 for (5) pieces cod balls, the janitor shouldn't be perusing the dining room geez. C-

As for the interior decor. I don't know, it's OK, it's kind of like an Ikea show room. Like, if you were to eat an Ikea show room, and as you were chewing, you sneezed real hard on the wall, and the chunks that stuck became your dining room. Thats their decor. Again, at $25 for a Johnsonville Chorizo Brat, I expect better. C+

My wife loved her cocktails. She had the YOU CANT TELL ME NOTHING and Rico Suavay. However, my old fashion was a bit inconsistent. The first was foggy with no garnish. The second was perfect with a garnish, but I also had a chunk of mint leaf on my cube. It's not a huge deal, but at $26 for fried lamb pate's pockets, I expect the cocktail standards to be much tighter. B+

On to the menu, Mexican? CHORIZO and Empinandas are about it. Your Mexican journey starts and ends with Chorizo and Lamb Empinadas. Unless Cod and Perch are some how Mexican dishes that I'm unaware of, the Mexican influences have yet to be seen. Let's run down the menu selections we chose....

1. Chorizo Sausage - HOLY MOLY back off of the sodium. The cabbage and beets slaw was really good though. C
2. There were some fried potatoes, like fingerlings. ABSOLUTE FIRE 🔥, you need to order those potatoes A+++
3. COD Balls - Who's idea was this? Fried COD mush in a tartar aoli with a punch of salt. Again, back off on the salt geez. C-
4. Lamb Empinadas - They're pretty good, I'd order them again B
5. Pepperoni Pizza = It was good with good value. It's a good deal for an OK pie. B+
6. Perch - It was really good, very well prepared. Practically perfect A
7. 3 Sandwich assortment. Not MEXICAN. Italian, in fact, but were delishis.

At the end of the day, this place is for girls. It's an overpriced food and drink spa that delivers perceived value, NOT real value. It's a local place where girls can take their selfies and pretend. It's a shell of a high-end restaurant. I encourage management to visit Brunch with Me in The Shores and see how to tighten things up.

But I will be going back to...