No reservation french wine bar from the team behind quince and cotogna. One side is more of a bar/wine store with counter service and the other side is a sit-down area with table service. both sides were bar-level loud as fuck.
usually i enjoy the appetizers more than the entrees but here it was the opposite. the pithivier and dover sole were outstanding.
But what really frosted my cockles was the 5% SF mandate fee that was secretly tacked on to the bill. i’m used to seeing and paying for this bullshit surcharge by now and even tip my normal percentage on top of it. my issue is that it was never disclosed. no where on the menu or website does it mention the fee and at the end of the meal when you usually review your bill, the server comes by with an ipad, quickly reads off everything you ordered (neglecting to mention the fee), flips the ipad around for you to select one of the pre-calulated tips (15, 20, or 25%) based on the post-tax and fee amount, and processes your payment right then and there. If i didn’t ask for a copy of the receipt to be emailed to me i would have been none the wiser. This just felt sneaky and disingenuous.
It’s normally at the bottom of the food menu as well.
Conceivably somebody might have added too many items to the menu, pushing the disclaimer paragraph outside of the printable area, and didn’t notice when they printed it.
Couldn’t get acceptable photos of the food due to the lighting.
House-smoked salmon was the best I’ve ever had. Should have gotten a second order.
Pork croquettes were good, best tartar sauce ever.
Omelette was good and hit the spot, but Petit Trois’s is better. Came with a small serving of the little gems.
FRF (Quince’s partner farm) beans were tiny green beans, Romanos, and some other kind in a dressing with feta, mint, crunchy bread crumbs, and I don’t know what all. Delicious.
