MAAZA29 KITCHEN & BAR — Restaurant in Virginia

This restaurant has an identity crisis. It's trying to be a high end restaurant, but it ends up being a local hangout for the owner's friends and family. This was our first time at the restaurant. We walked in the front entrance to a rowdy group of people at the bar, who all went silent as if we were intruding on their private party. After a few awkward minutes, a nice staff member realized we were actually there for dinner and walked us to our table. We had a big group, so I made reservations, which required charging $100 to make the reservations. Who does that?!?! Throughout our entire dinner the bar was loud and crazy. The waiter wouldn't let us order wine until the sommelier/owner came over first. We were told that the was so that the sommelier would look at our order and recommend wines that paired well with our meals. Well, when the sommelier/owner came over after 15 minutes, his only comments were, "what are you looking to drink?" Isn't that why we had to wait for you to come over, so that you can suggest to us what pairing is good? If you are going to force people to wait to order drinks, then you better come with suggestions. He wasn't even aware or familiar with his inventory. There were only two tables that night, but it still took over an hour to get our food after ordering. The food was hit and miss. My duck confit was dry and bland, the crawfish etouffee was good, but a little salty, the eggplant parmesan was greasy, over-fried with a strange cream and no pasta. The best dish that night was the vegetable platter, that was seasoned and cooked really well. Our dining experience was spoiled by the loud bar, slow service and average food. The aesthetics of the restaurant is also a contradiction in style. The way the bar is laid out, it creates a bottleneck going into the rest of the restaurant. When the bar is crowded, you are squeezing by the people sitting at the bar to get to thre dining room. The fine linen cloth on the tables and the decor in the dining room are undermined by the dirty ceiling tiles and falling metal braces. We really wanted to like this restaurant, but there were too many misses. The management needs to decide whether they want a fine dining restaurant or a place for friends and family...

Man, I really wanted to like this place and for it to standout amongst the mediocre chain restaurants in Gainesville.

The atmosphere was nice and quiet. (+1)

The wines by the glass was lacking. 7 whites to 2 reds and only one of the two were available.

The wings were top notch. The spices infused in the sauce stood out. Sadly this is where our experience peaked.

Once the mains arrived, this is where the disappointment settled in. I ordered the ribeye. I noticed on the menu they had truffle fries and bearnaise (separate items). This is one of my favorite divine restaurant snacks because of its divinity like a sommelier likes champagne and potato chips. I made the request and the server happily obliged. Then it came.. I received a non-tempered compound butter.. there is so much wrong here. When I asked the server about it, she was very defensive and said "well this is what we have" instead of acknowledging where there may be confusion.

Bearnaise is a mother sauce derivative of hollandaise..not a compound butter. So did the chef mean "bearnaise butter"? Since it wasn't tempered I was meant to put cold butter on a hot steak? All I cold do was shave it.

The steak nor fries had no seasoning. I learned a decade ago that the reason why nice restaurants do not put salt and pepper on the table is because the chef believes their food is already appropriately seasoned...

At this point I just gave up on the place. I stayed quiet and finished my food and we left.

Look, my wife and I have eaten well over a dozen michelin stars in several countries. I worked in a 3 star restaurant for years. So we love food. I can overlook the confusion, but what really turned me off was the servers reaction to my confusion. We used to have one liners for things like this..something like "I'm sorry for the confusion, this was chefs take on the classic sauce" but no.

My wife and I will probably come back and stick to the Ethiopian food, because again, those...

Came here to get a drink (cocktail) and the bartender ignored me and my party for 10 minutes. There were 3 other people sitting at the bar who didn't seem to get any attention either. Drinks came out eventually and we're essentially one note. The balsamic pomegranate cocktail tasted like it said, which I suppose is truth in advertising, but I was expecting some more flavor. The Italian last word was just overly strong and bitter (no one liked it at the table). The other cocktails ordered were pretty bland and forgettable. The "loaded fries" tasted ok, but for $13 I was expecting a hell of a lot more than gussied up frozen fries. Based on my experience with the drinks (and lack of service/care/attention) and the food (rehashed frozen ingredients) I can't recommend this place. Two stars because it was...