"The best thing about Coal Lumber is its ambiance the decor is artsy while still being classy and the location is fairly good. Everything else was just a huge let down. We arrived early and headed to the downstairs bar for a pre dinner cocktail. While downstairs, a stressed and unhappy waiter from C L come down a few times to cut up lemons and limes and (I presume) put in drink orders which would unknowingly set the tone for the rest of the night. Once seated, we were approached by two different waiters, both of whom were visibly frazzled and didn 't seem to have a good handle on who had which tables. While they were nice and had good intentions, everything was just incredibly slow. From drink food orders, and the overall attentiveness and service, it was just lacking. They easily needed an extra waiter/waitress or two. They no longer carried the wine I wanted which was still listed on the menu, and they were out of the shareable plate we ordered. But the part that really threw me was that since the kitchen is open to the dining space, I watched as more than once a waiter pointed something incorrect or wrong about a dish out to the chef and he 'd shrug his shoulders and make a what do you want me to do about it; just serve it face and the waiter would go take the item to a table. Unfortunately, the food isn 't worth it either. Despite the aura of the menu (interesting descriptions; classics that should be hard to mess up), the food was lackluster. It was boring, flavorless, and far below expectations based on other reviews I 'd read. I HATED their brussel sprouts and I didn 't think that was even possible, and the ragu entree had the dark, unappealing look of a squid ink pasta with whatever leftover scraps of meat they could throw in. It was unappealing in both taste and presentation. If you don 't care about taste, price or service, and just want a PC hot spot it 's not a bad clientele scene but I expect off the charts deliciousness and this was far from it."
