Ah, I went tonight and had the opposite experience.
We showed up as a party of 3. Our paella for 3 was really just the paella for 2. We were still charged $55pp.
The arroz with soccorat was nice but ours was too salty. Also 1/4 of it was burnt. There is a fine line between soccorat and burnt arroz and a good portion of it was burnt. This was especially painful since the 3 of us were already splitting paella for 2.
We hit up luv2eat after because we were starving.
Lighting was so dark the waiter couldn’t see the wines I was trying to order off the wine list. I tried to order 2 separate bottles but they couldn’t find either of them.
Probably one of the more disappointing meals I’ve had.
Oh, that’s too bad. BTW, when were you there? I wonder if we “saw” you? We came in at 7PM.
I will agree that the portion size was on the small size (even for 2). However, we were quite full about 30 min after we ended the meal. My partner also thought that the paella was salty (and he felt the same way about the broccoli). I love salty, so the paella and broccoli for me were fine. However, I did feel that the rabe was overly lemon-y.
Wow, that’s kind of embarrassing and another ding to Hinoki proper. I also went tonight and posed the question of if lighting was going to be that dark the entire time, and they said they’d “work on it.” Lights did turn up a little 20 min. later, thankfully before our dishes arrived.
Enjoyed the veg apps and found the paella curiously on the saltier side just as you guys did, a squeeze of lemon vastly helping. It’s unfortunate you got burnt rice, Porthos, but I got very minimal soccarrat.
Overall, a positive meal… Despite not getting the socarrat that I was expecting, paella flavors were still tasty.
If you’re dividing the seating btw “bar side” and “closer to the inferno of the kitchen,” then we were def on the bar side. Which party were you?
I actually didn’t mind the lighting, although I can understand why other people would find it overly dark.
We also didn’t get a ton of soccarrat… although perhaps my expectations of getting enough to make a tahdig side dish were unrealistic. And, yes, the lemon helped immensely.
I could’ve used more micro greens in the gazpacho (I def didn’t have the amount in J_L_'s pic) to break up the sweetness of the carrot and more chorizo w/ the green beans.
Part of our positive feelings about the meal could also be b/c we had to drive all of 15 min for this…
I would’ve LOVED to get enough crispy rice to make a tahdig side dish, especially with those flavors.
I wasn’t terribly picky about the apps, maybe because I was just starving after a movie. I sort of liked the ratio of ingredients in the gazpacho, although we did only get maybe a single sprig of micro green there. I thought the ham added a bit of salt and savory and the serrano peppers with that mildly spicy touch at the end of each taste made the entire dish interesting enough.
Green beans definitely could’ve used more chorizo. Come to think of it, one or two of the green beans were kind of fibrous… not in a good way.
Too bad the lighting was still an issue. The mandatory sharing of paella for two was a bit weird when odd number parties are involved. It’s actually a good deal for a solo diner–I think I got the same for-two size portion when I went alone. For 3 people they should really allow people to choose two paellas.
I did NOT love the rabbit paella I had a smoke.oil.salt (dry and partially burned) but I DID love the one at Lazy Ox.
I think when he nails it he nails it. That has been my experience with home made paella too there is a very narrow window between moist-crispy and dry-burnt.
Also true that dining in low ambient light sucks if one is trying to photograph the fare, but that’s why we has high ISO technology on lots of cameras now. #cuzphonecamerasstillcannotcompare
BTW, when were you there? I wonder if we “saw” you? We came in at 7PM.
And, yes, the lemon helped immensely.
I thought the ham added a bit of salt and savory and the serrano peppers with that mildly spicy touch at the end of each taste made the entire dish interesting enough.
