SHOCKING.

The food was reasonable, but nothing to write home about. We somehow received (and paid for) a side dish that we had not ordered, but we didn’t say anything because we decided we actually would quite like a plate of brussels sprouts, thank you. Oddly, we didn’t receive any bread plates, just the huge dining plates–which would be fine, but once I’ve covered my plate with crumbs and butter I’d quite like it to be replaced when the food proper arrives, without having to ask.

Aside from these issues, both the food and the service were reasonable enough but, as I’ve said, nothing all that remarkable; the much-touted mushrooms, for example, are, well, a plate of decently-cooked mushrooms. *shrug*. Not worth going back for, though.

totally clueless waiter

The Monday evening (mind you, a typically slow night even if the restaurant is new) myself and four of my friends ate at Craft we were aghast at how awful the service was. We were neither engaged nor served our waters until 20 minutes after we were sat. We did not receive our beverages until 45 minutes in. Around that time, we asked out Captain what the pastries on our table were (which were quite delicious), he said “An Amuse”, I responded with “I know what an Amuse Bouche IS, but what is IT?” “I have no idea” he said, and walked away. The first course came soon after that – mind you, an hour in – and it was delicious. The entrees were great, the servings were of an ample size, and the deserts were the most memorable of the night.

However, within the food service, a few more comedy of errors occurred. The fact that we were never served bread plates was highlighted even further when they served us our second round of bread after the first course – again the bread being pitifully average and a little cooler than room temp – when they neither gave us new plates to eat from nor did they replace the butter. I say again, they cleared our plates and gave us a basket of bread, but not the tools to enjoy it. What’s more is 20 minutes after my girlfriend ordered another glass of wine, they brought around the bottle and began to show us the bottle as if we had all ordered it, which was clearly not the case; the three men at the table all had pint glasses with beer in front of them as a clue that we clearly were not expecting wine.

After finishing the deserts we were sent three more as a gesture of good will from the operations manager. An affable enough fellow, but at best his gesture could be described as ill timed. I am not sure if he wanted to induce diabetic shock or if we looked especially indulgent. Comping our deserts would have been a fine enough gesture.

Now about the staff again, the “I don’t know” that was inarticulately mumbled by our Lenny-from-Of-Mice-and-Men-like Captain was not the only dialogue we had… but it was a big chunk of it. Besides that, we never even received an apology from our server from his delay to our table. We got a statement saying that he was “sat a few tables at once” and that we should understand how busy he was. That would be a passable excuse at an Applebee’s, but not a Restaurant owned by a man who weekly dices up various Chef’s spirits on a National Cooking Competition show for the same reasons. It is important to note that we were sat 20 minutes after our reservation on a Monday night. (this did not damper our spirits, we were enjoying each others company).

There was only one real highlight to the service that you touched upon, the valet service was exquisite. Despite the manager lamenting that “we (Craft) will fall short of expectations from time to time”, the valet team obviously never heard his surrender to inevitability.

The more time away from Craft, the more the awful and hysterically bad service becomes the standout, unfortunately overshadowing the food.

It should be noted that the same day I went to Craft I was re-reading Garlic and Sapphire by Ruth Reichl, where she poignantly discussed that eating-out is as much theater as it is a way to get top grade food. If Craft were truly theater, I would have left at the intermission.