"Stopped in yesterday (Sunday) late afternoon after errands and the like for a bit of a late lunch and couple drinks in the lounge. We have been quite a few times over the years and always enjoyed our visits. I had a couple cold draft beers, all good. Wife had the house wine and said was decent enough, so no complaints. We ordered (from both lounge and regular menus) to share: 1. ginger beef I always used to say this was best in the city, as used to be large pieces cooked perfect with a great sauce. this visit, all the pieces were quite small, definitely crunchy, and a bit chewy to say the least. still very flavorful so no leftovers (though not a huge portion to begin with) 2. ahi tuna noodle bowl this was pretty good, though noodles were definitely chewy which i did not expect, and actual tuna portion was smaller than i remember, but still very good and we finished it off 3. mussels still a great sauce, one of the best in city for sure. decent sized portion for sharing. comes with two small slices of bread (plenty) for dipping, and a side of fries. think the fries have changed; they just seemed 'different '. menu used to read Kennebeck potatoes and they were great (and i 'm not a potato guy, wife loves them mind you), but doesnt read that way anymore, and they just didnt taste the same; wife agreed and she 's the potato expert lol. still good with the aioli dip. 4. oysters rockefeller ok, so heres where it gets weird. when i order oysters rockefeller, i expect a half dozen oysters on the half shell, baked with spinach and typically pernod and a bit of parm (we were at Cajun House night before and had theirs and was fantastic, hence why i wanted to try them here a day later). so order comes to the table (not by our server) with the other food. i look at it and it is some kind of mess of three heavily battered and deep fried oysters, and bunch of deep fried cauliflower. wife inadvertently cut one oyster in half (to make sure they were in fact oysters) and could see it on her face that they werent right. she said it had a very metallic taste and just wasnt right. plus, the entire plate was drowning in thousand island dressing, and had about half a jar of sliced pickles all over it. seriously, pardon my french, but what the hell is this monstrosity? i get the wife to double check the menu description in case we missed that this was some type of nouveau cuisine we misunderstood. Nope, just a complete mess. call server over and ask what this is about (at over $22+ for an appetizer kinda gotta question it). waitress advises they did not have the ingredients for what we ordered, so they just made this up instead and served it without even asking us. told her to take it back and off the bill because it was not what we ordered, and kind of got a strange look at us. now i watch alot of cooking shows, and i know some chefs are pretty arrogant, but this is just blatant disregard for customer satisfaction. to assume we would just accept an overpriced pickle salad that we never ordered just because they didnt have the courtesy to let us know they couldnt complete the order is totally unprofessional and embarrassing for a higher end restaurant. i always thought the customer had the choice of what they wanted, and maybe we wouldve ordered something else in lieu, but this was just dropped at our table with no explanation or regard, and was just sad and messy. the fact that there was no concern of any staff that they tried this and made us feel like we were in the wrong for sending it back was also a bit bewildering. that being said, besides this situation, we were fairly satisfied with our visit. server was friendly and prompt and efficient. i considered giving three stars, but gave four based on service and balance of food. if it hadnt been for this slight on what shouldve been a nice dish, mightve given 5 stars, but just cant in this case. recommend? of course; will we be back, of course, will just ask if they can actually make what they have on the menu, so no surprises or disappointments."
