"I wanted to love Ella 's. I was almost certain I would, based on some of the great things I 'd heard about it. Unfortunately, our experience here was a mixed bag some of it good, some of it bad, some of it bordering on bizarre. First, the good! Most of the food we ordered was great. I had the wagyu burger with fries, and it was perfectly cooked. We ordered olives and focaccia bread appetizers, and they were both a hit. My partner had the duck frites with jumbo asparagus, and it was surprisingly bland, but outside of that everyone was happy with their meals. The dining room is nice, with tasteful artwork on the walls and a relaxing atmosphere. Now the bad (and bizarre I don 't want just say the service was bad because that doesn 't adequately explain what went wrong here. To be clear, our waiter was very pleasant and friendly it 's more that, on the whole, Ella 's ~vibe~ is missing the mark, and is in some ways contradictory. It 's obvious that they are trying to be a Capital F Fine Dining Restaurant. It says so right in the name, which may be your first indication that they very much want you to know that they are a Fine Dining Restaurant. Not only do they take women 's orders first at the table, they will tell you that they are deliberately taking the women 's orders first, so there is no confusion as to How They Do Things There. There are no hats allowed in the dining room, according to the host, who is wearing sneakers. To ensure that we were enjoying our Fine Dining Experience, we were visited by our waiter in approximately four to five minute intervals, sometimes including a thorough wipe of the table, whether or not we were in the middle of a conversation. (We racked up quite a check in tally, considering our food took about an hour to come out. There is a $2.50 plate fee (not to be confused with their $5.00 split plate fee , which, despite inquiring, we were unable to get to the bottom of what exactly that is all about. I don 't consider myself an authority on what fine dining should or should not be. I 'm a restaurant layman. That being said, I know that in some of the nicest restaurants I 've eaten in, subtlety has been key. I think Ella 's would do well to reel it in a little bit, drop the thinly veiled pretentiousness, and let the food and atmosphere speak for itself."
