gwaldron

Real-time Veal Chop price tracker: $54 on 2-22-2013! And now that we have that out of the way: I had my first Fiola experience on Saturday night. It must be once of the best meals by wife Cindy and I have eaten in a long time. (Plus, the $150 GC I received for my birthday put a nice dent in the bill.) The beef tartar was rich. So rich that it made the sunny-side egg on top seem ironic, almost toning down the creaminess of the meat. Nice stuff. We also had the tuna "carpaccio" (at 3/8" thick but who's complaining) and that ran a very close second to the tartar. Fiola's sommelier was fantastic. I don't remember his name but he was a personable and unpretentious guy and after asking me 2 or 3 questions he zero'd in on a wine that my wife and I really enjoyed (Vietti Langhe Nebbiolo - $56). Our main courses were the veal chop (supoib) and the lobster ravioli. I am not the world's biggest lobster fan but I figured I'd make an exception and try this signature dish. It was about as good as lobster gets (for me) but I don't think I'd return to it. The veal won out for sure. Dessert was simple cheese plate, just the right portion along with some coffee. I saved my only complaint for last since I didn't want to start the review with it: the cocktails. It's pretty de rigueur to have some kind of artisan cocktail menu - no expection here - but the two inventions we tried were just plain no good. The "Fiola" was a $16 Sprite. Seriously. And I told the waiter so ... to which he responded by reciting the ingredients back to me (thanks, I can read. Our waiter was aloof and not very professional... I echo other sentiments in this thread on that score.) My cocktail was a "Rye in your Eye" and seemed like an attempt to do something different that ended up being a strange-tasting mess. So no love on the cocktails. BUT that was the only downside. We loved the ambiance, the food, the sommelier.. a couple rough edges but we will definitely be back.

After a couple years of steering clear, my wife and I decided to head back over the 2941 and check out the "new direction." I was optimistic and hopeful especially sine this place is *really* close to our house -- a bonus when one is still hiring babysitters and doesn't want to spend too much time in the getting there and back. The new decor is an improvement. They took this grand space and made it more inviting - there aren't as many booths (a good thing) and the layout is not quite as broken up as I remember from the past. I will tell you right off the bat -- the food is still (mostly) good. But our outing was marred by bad service. Maybe it was just the luck of the draw; our server was not good. Maybe this is the new "casual" approach? He immediately dropped off menus, rattled off some specials, and we didn't see him again for quite a while. He never asked if we'd like something from the bar (which we did) and when he finally returned I said so. By then we knew what we wanted eat so we put that order in as well. My mistake? I guess so, since our appetizers arrives 30 seconds after our cocktails. :/ Moving on. My wife had a butternut squash soup - excellent. I tried the cripsy pork belly, also very good. We then split an order of a pasta dish - lobster fettucini. It's well documented in this thread that the move to a broad Mediterranean-esque menu and a decided "pasta station" was quastionable...rightfully so I would say: this dish was awful. Limp, flavorless pasta and a vapid sauce that tasted of saffron but was otherwise underseasoned and underdeveloped. The entrees were a split. My veal+lobster on a bed of risotto was excellent. Really well-balanced flavors. Cindy's venison loin was a bit salty and a bit dry (even though the meat was cooked rare/mrare. Not enough finesse to it). I left with mixed feelings. Honestly I don't remember the price point at the "old" 2941 but it was a very expensive meal for what (I feel) we got. I suspect a huge part of that was the bad service. In my book that is really what you're spending the big bucks on. A couple missteps in the food doesn't sour an evening, but bad service does, at least for me. I want to go back and try again - the food was good - but it will be hard to get past that. You can't really mix fine-dining prices with "casual" service.