As I write this review I am not completely sure one should review a restaurant posed as an impostor. 610 Magnolia is a fine dining establishment with prices, service and atmosphere to match. It's little sister off-shoot is a wine room that serves food as you meet, greet and wine taste... food is mostly nibbles, little bites, cheeses and assorted hors d'oeuvres...this hardly constitutes a meal...but upon occasion, Ed Lee(owner and chef) and his staff feature sit down, communal styled events...Italian, BBQ, and on the eve of my birthday, French Bistro.
Before I commence on my review, I will say this evening was lovingly presented to WFS and I as our joint birthday gift. My mother, the arbiter of good taste, would say, repeatedly, never look a gift horse in the mouth. I shall refrain from opening the horse's mouth but~~~~~~~~
We arrived to a general milling about, tasting small sips of various French wines...seeing old familiar faces and a few new ones. It is nice to share a table with new folks. That was the good part. The appetizer samplings were okay, albeit a bit uninspired. A greasy, small bite, grilled BLT, left my hands too greasy to greet a friend with hand extended...beets, one of my very favorite foods, lacked any flavor at all. How do you do that to a beet?
The main meal was a serious disappointment. It is not possible to serve a dish called Foie Gras when made with unsavory, off tasting chicken livers or am I missing something? The salad course, served family style, was enough for one, to be split between six~~~ Next came Beef Bourguignon, it could have/should have succeeded, but our dish was served with nary a scrap of beef...a few carrots were drifting in what I strongly suspected to be Knorr-Swiss beef gravy. Next came duck confit...don't-even-go- there. The final course before dessert was, Coq au vin. This course fared a bit better, having said that, no self respecting French cook would have allowed this dish anywhere near his/her kitchen.
Dessert: store bought crepes, with winter strawberries and Hershey's( or some pre-made stuff) syrup....
Rule 1. Make the crepes.
Rule 2. Use seasonal fruits..NO winter strawberries
Rule 3. For gods sake, make the chocolate, how hard is that!!!!
Rule 4. Topping a disaster with cream fraiche will not cover up the disaster.
Should this end here? Well, generally speaking, it should. I asked for a cup of coffee. a small cup of tepid coffee was delivered with cream? they asked and I said yes, to cream... When I started to pour the cream I noticed a lightness, a swishing in the cream pitcher. I glanced over to my left and the coffee served to the young lady looked a little muddy...I tipped the cream pitcher and out shot blue john milk! The young lady to my left said, it isn't cream. I said, unacceptable. Could we have cream, I asked the server.
I was told, we have NO cream....then, after a prelude,the server produced something she mixed in the back room to resemble cream.
I shoved the coffee out of sight...
Other then a lively discussion with the young lady to my left...this stands as one of the crazier moments in my dining career.
The moral of the story is:
Never rest on your laurels and never believe that a lovely facility and enormous prices constitute quality.
Never, ever, ever.
MOMO
Dog Heaven
Key Largo
Moon over the Sea
Summer
August Magnolia
As times goes by
Cumberland Island
Hunting Island
Skirting the shore
AMELIA ISLAND, FLORIDA
Savannah, camping on Skidaway Island
P&P LOGO
By Dan Dutton
Jaxon
Boy + dog
5 comments:
As the chef of the above, I take your criticisms to heart, though a little harsh I thought. Our goal is always to serve our clients well and to the best of our abilities. I apologize that we did not meet your standards that evening. You are right that no restaurant should rest on its laurels but most good restaurants earn a reputation over time and many many good nights. That is not to say that even the best ones cannot have a bad night, but it is not the norm or we wouldn't be in business very long. But to your point, I would like nothing more than to redeem ourselves so please call us at the restaurant and we will cook you a meal that lives up to our name.
YIKES!~ Wish I'd been the cook on your Birthday! I hope the chef does you right. It's true tho, that anything and everything can go wrong in the kitchen on a given night...
A very gracious response from Chef Lee.
As I was reading, my first reaction was the same as Dan's - next year WE will cook your birthday dinner!
Chef Lee , as you well know I am a huge fan of 610.., and over the years I've had some of the most memorable of meals. I do not mean to be harsh. Heaven knows, the pitfalls of serving the public is a daunting task. I rarely fall in the category of a complainer. Quiet the opposite, I am thrilled to be served and not be the cook. Having said this, I feel you are so gifted and to compromise your gift, is even more baffling.. To serve a beef dish with no beef is strange at best, unforgivable at worse... To end a meal with bad coffee is, well, unthinkable. An elderly lady told me when I first went into food service, the last bite should be the best bite... That little tidbit served me well. I am truly your fan.
Chef lee can't be in the kitchen all the time, so perhaps the problem is the chef de cuisine. It sounds like the perfect storm. My review gave them better marks. Hopefully they'll get it straightened out. I've got a slam bam review of joe's stone crabs as soon as I return.
Post a Comment