Yes :-) Rob's review (Sep 17th 2007)

Great food and drinks in a fun atmosphere. It’s all small plates and everything I’ve tried has been great. Go with friends and order lots and share

No :-( Steve's review (Oct 25th 2007)

If there is one saving grace of this joint it was the expertly prepared drinks and snappy bar service. My pomegranate-gin concoction perfectly accentuated the herbal qualities of the Bombay Sapphire without mucking it up with a lot of goopy syrup. The lady’s infused mango vodka was equally tasteful.

Dinner was another story. Our waitress was flustered, constantly re-asking us what we’d ordered, and service was uneven. Food was decent at best. Whereas the drinks possessed an ethereal, light quality, the dishes were as heavy-handed as they come.

Although we liked it, pasta with ham was overcooked and drenched in a pepper jack goop. Lemon chicken, a favorite of my companion, was left almost untouched by her. The biggest failure was a stuffed portabello mushroom that came to our table as pile of risotto with a mushroom completely buried beneath it. I actually asked the server where the stuffed mushroom was that we had ordered. The risotto stuffing – cooked long beyond the proper al dente texture and doused in cream – was absolute paste more closely resembling mashed potatoes than a grain.

The coup de grace was leaving the restaurant to see one third of the kitchen staff in the parking lot leaning on the dumpster and laying (flat on their backs) on the ground while smoking cigarettes.

Yes :-) Janessa Todd's review (Apr 18th 2008)

The food was so good and diverse I can forgive them the misspellings on the menu. Yes, plural. But I did not fail to point out at least one to our waiter.

We got there at the tail end of happy hour, in time to order fried artichoke hearts. Sounds weird, tastes fantastic. We also got the fried cheese (I can’t recall its name) off the ‘cold tapas’ section of the menu, which was actually served warm with pita bread and very good, especially with the berry jam. Our waiter suggested ordering a couple things at a time, which is what we did.

After that first course we followed it with ‘fried’ gnocchi (one of the words spelled wrong). I use the quotation marks because they did not seem fried, just prepared de rigueur and in a delicious cream sauce. I also ordered the crab-stuffed chile relleno, which was to die for. Ask for the pesto on the side, it is overkill with all the other flavors going on with it.

My mom ordered the $13 scallops and got a measly 3 decent-sized scallops that were supposed to be grilled but ended up more blackened and chewy. $13 is steep for 3 scallops and the plate came heavy on the presentation to camouflage the rip-off factor of this plate. Everything else was very reasonable, and $13 wouldn’t have been terrible if the vegs on the plate were tasty or even edible, but they were bitter as hell (clearly intended for decor only), and the scallops’ flavor was completely overpowered by their burnt exterior.

Overall it was a good experience, and they kept our iced tea full, which is always a plus. A great atmosphere and decor lend to a fun dining experience; if you can, sit in the windowed area. We skipped dessert (they had a very unimaginitive selection of apple crisp, strawberry shortcake, or moose tracks ice cream) as we were going to hit the Scoop, but they were closed. They are a bit hidden in a corner next to the Baskin-Robbins on Grand, but once you discover them you won’t quickly forget.

No :-( jenifer's review (Jun 24th 2008)

What a joke. Small portions, high prices, lousey service. We left with empty stomaches and an empty wallet. We watched food sit in the window as Jerry (the owner) did nothing about it. Just proves you don’t have to know anything about running a restaurant or cooking as long as you have deep pockets.