"Having a birthday in the weird in-between time sandwiched between Christmas and New Year 's is admittedly a weird thing. Hubby does a great job finding new spots to try but because of this weird timing, I feel like we get the short end of the stick sometimes with tired businesses and limited ingredient selections. We arrived here on a weeknight at opening for dinner and were seated immediately. I loved the unfussy but still elegant atmosphere, and we were one of two tables occupied for the first half hour/45 min or so. We started with a bottle of sparkling water $8.50) while we looked over the menu. A very unassuming basket of bread and salted butter arrived and WOW, honestly if I had stopped after the bread, I would have given them a solid 5 stars. The texture was fluffy and chewy, and the flavor was complex, homemade, and insanely delicious. For starters, I ordered the French Onion Soup $12) and he ordered the Chevre salad $15.50). For our entrees, he ordered the Orecchiette $25) and I opted for the Gnocchi $25) after I saw it being hailed as lighter than air and the pillowy dish this restaurant is known for. Unfortunately, these statements were both very wrong this time. The soup was piping hot and full of goodies, but the surface was heavy with oil and made the experience very messy and off putting. The bread on top was so saturated with oil, it was completely inedible which was sad because the cheese was very good, and the onions were well cooked. The chevre salad was good but had a strange texture to the lardons which was oddly chewy but not in a satisfying way. For the entrees, hubby 's pasta dish was under-seasoned, and the pasta tasted more really undercooked or stale than toothsome/al dente. My entree was even more in need of help, and was bland, dense and all things you hope gnocchi is NOT. I was so hopeful when reading about pillowy clouds, but these were heavy, over-handled, and chewy almost like boiled mochi dumplings. The squash was also partly unpeeled and undercooked almost to the point of being crunchy which was a terrible texture pairing to the gummy, rubbery gnocchi. The gnocchi sat heavy in my stomach like rocks after eating. Dessert unfortunately was not much better. I ordered the Hot Chocolate Cake with ice cream $12) and he ordered the Salted Caramel Pots De Creme $11). The chocolate cake was really bland and had nothing going for it in terms of remarkability. I 'm not sure why they need so much advanced notice to fire this dish- it didn 't have a complex souffle texture or molten center. The pots de creme was also very lackluster, and ultimately topping the cake with the PDC made things a little better but not much improvement overall. Location is convenient in the adorable downtown Ross with free street parking on both sides. Restaurant is easy to find, and the ambiance is welcoming and warm. Food was a wild ride in terms of lack of attention to detail on cooking and seasoning. Although it was a lot of locally sourced ingredients, they were just not prepared well or well-seasoned the night we were there. Overall, overpriced for the experience we had, although probably comparable for the area, and not something I enjoyed other than the amazing bread and ambiance). Unfortunate, but was this just the season, or is this their new normal?"
