We arrived for our 7:3opm reservation for the Chef’s table about 10 minutes early and were seated immediately. Unfortunately, we were seated and waited and waited… Our water was poured and then we waited ~15-20 minutes before we were acknowledged by anyone. At that point, our server brought us the cocktail menu to review. Why didn’t they give us the cocktail menu when we were seated?? We then ordered a cocktail but again waited 10-15 minutes before our cocktails were delivered and given the menu to review – (btw: the cocktails were amazing!). All in all, we waited ~ 40-45 mintues before our order was taken.

We ordered the 7-course tasting with wine pairing. I would agree with Jeff’s assessment – particularly course #3 – the halibut was extremely over salted – and I considered sending it back. By course #4, service was falling apart. We received course #4 but had to wait ~10 minutes for our wine service to arrive. My husband opted-out of the foie gras and had the corn ravioli instead – again amazing! Course #5 – the beef was excellent as well – again had to wait for the wine to arrive; however, the Syrah was paired extremely well with this course. Course #6 – the cheese course was ok for me – but I think this was just a personal preference (don’t like soft cheese or beer). My husband loved it – especially the pistachios with the cheese and the pairing with beer.

Then, came dessert… We received our dessert and were awaiting our coffee when Hilda (manager?) visited our table (this was visit #3 from her during our evening there). She commented that I “looked freezing” (yes, I was sitting right underneath the air conditioning vent all evening) and “would we like to finish our dessert in the lounge”. We indicated that we midway through dessert and awaiting our coffee to finish the evening. My husband asked her directly – “are you just trying to turn this table over?” and she smiled and then asked if I needed a shawl since she had one in the closet.

My guess is that I probably “looked freezing” at her prior 2 visits but it was only when she wanted to flip the table for the next seating that she asked if I were cold. This one incident really put a negative impact on the entire evening. Had she been honest and asked us prior to us receiving our dessert, we probably would have moved to the lounge. Had we not had to wait 45 minutes to order our dinner, we would have finished our meal in plenty of time for the next seating.

Overall, I was disappointed in the evening. I know this is our first time there but the food proved to be great but the service inconsistent. Also, the chef’s seating area was extremely noisy during our dinnner there. So again, I would agree with Jeff: Volt – Yes, as I believe that the can fix their service issues; Chef’s table – No, this is not Hell’s Kitchen – there really isn’t much to see – and I think it takes away from the dining experience.

I am from the school if you are going to complain that you need to offer some suggestions/recommendation:

So, here they are:
- Greet guests by their name (we made a reservation; you have our name; use it). This is low hanging fruit…
- Offer your guests to have a cocktail in the lounge before you seat them or give them the cocktail menu when they are seated.
- Have fewer tables in the chef’s dining room. Servers could barely maneuver between the tables as they are so close together and it was extemely loud.
- The manager/maitre-d’ needs to own the dining room and it really didn’t feel that there was one person in charge on the front-end of the house.
- The servers and sommelier need to be on the same page. No excuse to wait 10 mintues for your wine pairing.
- Golden rule: Tell the truth.
- See #1. Thank your guests and say good night using their names (we made a reservation; you have our name; use it). This is low hanging fruit…
- Come on. I want you too succeed.

Well here are the details. We arrived at 5:00 for our 5:30 seating and went to the bar and had a drink. We were seated around 5:30. We decided to go with the 7 course tasting with beverage pairing. First came the 3 amuse-bouche a wild salmon tartar, compressed watermelon with vanilla sea salt and red pepper custard with trout roe. Wow! On all three. Unfortunately these were some of the best courses of the night. Next we had the summer heirloom tomatoes made three ways they were good, then we had a shitake mushroom soup–delicious. Then came one of our biggest disappointments the 3rd course was halibut over banana arugula risotto with banana croquet, the fish was way too salty, risotto was under cooked and the banana croquet was almost frozen. Next came the foie gra course which was fair. Then our main protein came, I don’t eat beef or pork, so at the beginning of the meal we discussed that with our server and she suggest either lamb or chicken and my wife let them know I really like lamb. The meat I was served was a pork loin that had been sitting under the warmed a little too long. The first two bites were so dry I almost choked. After that I asked for an intermission, something to clean my pallet. They selected an apple brandy. Then came the cheese course and it was good. A goat cheese brie from GA with crushed pistachios and coco and a broche. At this point we decided we wanted to try a couple of the desserts beside the Chocolate and Hazelnut “pave” chocolate. I then noticed that they were running behind schedule for their 7:30 seating, so I thought I would help them out and let them seat us in another area of the restaurant either the main dining room or the bar to finish off our deserts with beverage pairing. They were more than happy to move us, but it seems as if they forget us as well. They placed us in the bar and our desserts came, some with the beverage pairing and some with out. We did not get any chocolate plate at the end or sweet biscuits for my wife’s morning coffee. The sommelier was on target for most of the night, I would say the only course he missed was the main protein, he served me a Syrah and it really over powered the pork.

. There were some absolute delicious courses and there were some poor courses. We expected the service to be a little shaky due to the fact they have only been open for a month, but I would think you would try and stay consistent in the Chef’s table area, but I was wrong. Would we go back probably, would we do the Chef’s table again probably not?