The Living Room Visited 9/17/2016 3.5 Forks

The Living Room 207 Main St., East Hampton, NY 11937

There aren’t a lot of actual hotels in the Hamptons and the ones that do exist are crazy expensive.  Most hotels here are not big high rise chains but are instead more like cute B&Bs that look like fancy Victorian homes.   The Maidstone falls into this category.  If I didn’t know any better, I would have assumed it was just another mega-million dollar mansion in town.  It’s got cute quaint rocking chairs on the outside porch and a swing on the other side.  The lobby literally looks like the foyer of someone’s home. 

Enter The Living Room – the restaurant inside the hotel.  It feels like you are in a cozy, almost colonial feeling living room.  The menu is Swedish-influenced, which I’m not sure what that really means besides the fact that they had smoke salmon, shrimp sandwiches and Swedish meatballs on the menu.  Everything else seemed like New American.   I opted for the heirloom tomato salad ($18) and the pan roasted Icelandic cod ($36) – I mean I guess Iceland is close enough to Sweden?  I noticed that a lot of people at the table got some kind of meat option – the flat iron steak was a popular option.

I’m a huge sucker for an heirloom tomato salad – even though most places clearly just use that description to jack up the price of the salad but I don’t really care.  This one came with farmstead cheese, radish, corn and a buttermilk dressing.  It was a nice tossed and balanced summer salad.  While the buttermilk dressing wasn’t as heavy as it sounds, I would have preferred a more vinegar based dressing. 

I chose the cod because I was trying to be healthier and while it was still a solid fish dish, after seeing other people’s steak dishes, I definitely had major steak envy.  The fish was cooked fairly well – it was a very generous portion fillet with a nice flakey texture to it.   It was served with local calms, lima bean and natua.   It was a solid fish dish for sure but for $36 I expect to be blown away by my dish.  Of course this is the Hamptons so everything is more expensive than it needs to be.  I’m sure it was pan roasted with tons of butter, so having the duck breast or flat iron steak probably wouldn’t have been that much worse for me.

The service was well run considering there were 9 of us at the table which I can only imagine is a pain the butt to manage.  While I enjoyed my dinner there, I actually think this place would be a better night cap type of place since they have a fireplace and some open seating in the lobby.   If I were still using ¼ forks, this would be a classic case for a 3.75 fork because while the food itself was totally well done and tasty, the high cost and lack of wow factor doesn’t really put it in a 4 fork range but I’m feeling generous and will round up for this one.  Total bill:  $70/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Harbor Bistro Visited 9/16/2016 4 Forks

Harbor Bistro  313 Three Mile Harborhog Creek Rd., East Hampton, NY 11937

Ahh, the Hamptons.  The playground for the rich and famous.  I am blessed enough to have great friends who invite me over to their wonderful place every once in a while and honestly, we do nothing but chill and go out to eat.  The one nice thing about going out to eat in this area is that you can find a lot of places by the water, so you can get lovely views that you would never find in the city. 

I actually think the best time to visit is after Labor Day when all the crazy house sharing/summer people have left the area and it's down to mostly locals and other people who own out there.  The weather is still nice and the crowds are considerably thinner.  VA, Julie and I had originally wanted to go to Bostwick's but the wait was 45 minutes and it was almost 8pm already.  So we headed over to Harbor Bistro where they seated us right away despite there being a rehearsal dinner in the back.  The menu here is traditional Hampton's style food - a large focus on seafood.  There were tons of great sounding options from tuna poke, oysters, shrimp pasta, swordfish and several tasty meat dishes too.  I opted for the salmon belly starter and the shrimp salad (I asked for the dressing on the side).  The salmon belly was similar to a tartare style dish with raw salmon served lightly marinated piled in a heap - delicious and I was surprised that it was actually a pretty decent sized dish for a starter.  We also shared the fried calamari for the table which tasted much more refined than your traditional bar type calamari.  It was lightly breaded and served with cold noodles, avocado, cucumber and a firecracker sauce.  It didn't taste greasy or too heavy which often happens with calamari.  

For my main, I got the shrimp salad which was excellent as well.  The only downside was that they didn't give me the dressing on the side.  Let's be honest, in reality I probably would have poured the entire thing on my salad anyways.  It was an excellent ginger sesame type dressing, so I definitely would have.  It was a nice ratio of shrimp to lettuce and other chopped vegetables and combined with my salmon belly, it was a really solid seafood outing.  Of course I had to be greedy and throw in an order of truffle fries which were probably the least impressive dish of the night and totally not needed.  It could have been a bit crispier and there was too much truffle and parm on it to make it super enjoyable.  But it definitely didn't damper the overall experience.  Total bill:  $72/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

East Hampton Grill Visited 10/3/2015 4 Forks

East Hampton Grill  99 N Main St., East Hampton, NY 11937

Ahh, the Hamptons.  I'm lucky enough to have a few good friends who have houses out there and it's always nice to duck out of the city and every once in a while.  It's even nicer when you visit during the off season (ie. not the summer) as the crowds really do thin out.  I was visiting Maggie and Adam with Jill to escape the "hurricane" (that never came).  Adam had mentioned that this place was his favorite restaurant in town and that it was part of the Hillstone Restaurant Group which we agreed despite being a chain that owns Houston's restaurant has really solid food. 

The vibe here was definitely on the older/local side - so none of that craziness you usually associate with the Hamptons.  It's also got a slightly old school, expensive vibe to it - which again, it's the Hamptons so you can't expect much less.  The menu is solid Americana - burgers, steaks, ribs, chicken and because we're by the water, several fish dishes.  We split the oysters St. Charles ($24) and heavenly biscuits ($6) to start and then since I wasn't starving, Jill and I split the Tuna Tartare ($27) and the special fish of the day which was a cod with mushroom vinaigrette, mashed potatoes and spinach ($36), Adam and Maggie split the BBQ ribs ($36) and house salad ($12).  As you can see, the prices are high and the cocktails/wine run about $16-20/glass, so be prepared for a bit of sticker shock when you eat here but it's honestly no different than any of the other nicer places in town. 

The oyster St. Charles were served fried with creamed spinach and artichoke on the half shell - delicious!  I still prefer a nice clean raw oyster but on occasion it is nice to have it spiced up with some creamed vegetables.  They were quite filling so I didn't actually get to try the biscuits but they looked amazing.   As I'm writing this, I'm actually super sad that I didn't at least have a bite of one because they looked warm and buttery.  

Despite being an appetizer, our tuna tartare was HUGE - it was definitely enough to split between 2 people.  It was a huge helping of hand chopped up tuna with tons of sliced avocado and a deviled egg.  The tuna was super fresh tasting although I could have used a pinch more of salt and a dash of sesame oil it, but overall it was a lovely clean dish.  The cod dish was nicely cooked with a creamy sauce of enoki type mushrooms on top - luckily the sauce was pretty light and not totally overwhelming. It paired nicely with the very smooth and buttery mashed potatoes.   There's just something so comforting and nice about mashed potatoes and spinach with either a meat or fish dish.  I also tried a bite of Adam's ribs and holy shit, they were incredible.  They literally fell clean off the bone with very little pull.  I was very impressed by them and can see why he orders it every time he's there. 

Even though we were all pretty full Adam mentioned that we had to order the chocolate sundae.  I'm usually not a huge ice sundae fan but since we were splitting 4 ways, I figured I would at least take a bite or two....or ten.  This was one of the most delicious sundaes I've ever had.  I don't know what made it so addictive but it was probably a combination of the fresh whip cream, warm chocolate sauce and candied nuts that got me.   As most of you know, I'm not a huge chocolate fan but this sauce was the great balance of not being too sweet or bitter.  If all chocolate was like this, I could definitely get on the band wagon.  We all left super full and happy - it was a lovely get away from the city and even though the prices can shock you here, you're just as likely to spend this much money in the city too. Total bill:  $95/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Race Lane Visited 6/26/2015 3.5 Forks

Race Lane 31 Race Ln, East Hampton, NY 11937

Ah, the Hamptons.  Love it or hate it, plenty of New Yorkers end up here at least once during the summer and I'm very lucky and grateful to have a friend who has a place out in East Hampton. Normally, we are very laid back and grill and stay in but we like to go out at least one night we're there.  This time since Marc was coming from the bus stop, we chose a restaurant that was close enough for him to walk over. 

Surprisingly, the restaurant was pretty empty for a Friday night and the clientele that was there was more on the older/family side than the wild and crazy stereotypical Hamptons crowd - which was totally fine with me.  The menu here is full on American - so your classic fish dishes, roasted chicken, burger and filet mignon type dishes.  We split the lobster mac and cheese ($13) for the table as well as the shishito peppers ($11) while Julie and I split the buffala mozzarella ($19) appetizer and for my main meal, I got the special red snapper of the day.  

I didn't really go into this restaurant with high hopes - I kind of thought it would be your typical overpriced Hamptons restaurant and while on one hand it is expensive, the food was surprisingly good too.  The mozzarella was delicious - there were quite a few chunks of it and it was served with prosciutto, cantaloupe, basil, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil.  Very basic, clean dish but tasty as well. I didn't actually get to try the peppers but the rest of the table seemed to like it.  The lobster mac and cheese was - well, how can lobster mac and cheese be bad?  Not surprisingly there wasn't an overwhelming amount of lobster but at least everyone was able to get some bite of lobster.  On to the red snapper.  This was quite possibly the biggest and most elegant filet I have ever seen.  It was served beautifully with the skin on and it was enough food for two people.  I had a really hard time finishing it but it was flakey, well cooked and tender to the touch.   They also had a whole branzino fish that Marc got that was stuffed with fennel and lemon that looked fantastic.  Virginia and John got the scallops and they also looked well prepared.  Everyone who got some kind of seafood dish looked very happy with their meal.   Of course, we all saved room for dessert and we got the warm dark chocolate bread pudding ($11) and the caramel creme ($11).  Both were out of this world.   The bread pudding was sweet but not too sweet and soft on the inside.  But the perfect combination was a spoonful of the caramel creme mixed with the bread pudding.  Yum! 

Overall,  it was a great meal with great friends.  It was just a bit too expensive for what it was and honestly, I did find the crowd and decor to be a little bit lacking but in general it didn't matter too much because I enjoyed the company I was with.   Race Lane is an nice reprise from the uber trendy places in the Hamptons crawling with annoying drunk 20 somethings but I still have love for the simpler places like Bostwick's when I'm in town.  Total bill:  $102/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Star Confectionery Visited 9/19/2014 3.5 Forks

Star Confectionery 4 East Main Street, Riverhead, NY 11901

The girls and I decided that we wanted to grab some lunch before we checked in to our rental home for the long weekend and Riverhead seemed like the "biggest" town in the North Fork area that wold give us the most options.  We drove past this cute luncheonette/diner and thought that it would be the perfect place to grab a quick bite to eat.

First off, it's adorable.  You feel like you are transported into the 50's because there really isn't a single modern thing about this place (including the fact that they don't take credit cards).  As you can imagine the menu is pretty bare bones, it's pretty much sandwiches, burgers and a few random sides (like cottage cheese and fruit).   I went a decidedly standard route and got the grilled cheese with tomato ($6) and a side of fries ($4).  The other girls got a variety of sandwiches and soups and Jill got the chicken fingers - so it was all very basic diner food.  The waitress was very nice and the whole place just had a very cute, quaint and local feel to it.  The grilled cheese was nicely done - with just the right amount of cheese in it and the outside of the bread had a nice toast to it but it wasn't burnt or overdone.  The fries were the crinkle cut variety and it reminded me of my childhood.  They were probably frozen fries that came from an Oreida bag but you know what? They were still crunchy, tasty and seriously addictive.

It was a pretty quick meal but it was a nice pit stop in a small but lovely town.  There are obviously other more upscale restaurants in other nearby towns in the North Fork, but this one was quite adorable and just got the job done for what we needed.  It wasn't a culinary show stopper but sometimes all you want is a nice grilled cheese sandwich and french fries to sooth your hunger pangs. I really do love the North Fork and encourage everyone to check out that area before it becomes overrun like the Hamptons.  I wasn't sure what the total bill was because all I had on me was $15 in cash but I'm fairly certain the total bill was not too high given the prices.

Photo Credit:  retroroadmap.com

Petulant Wino Visited 7/5/2014 4 Forks

Petulant Wino 739 Main Rd., Aquebogue, NY 11931

For our group dinner in Mattituck, we tried out a restaurant in a nearby town that Jenn had mentioned was relatively new.  Similar to my other dining experience in this part of Long Island, I found this place to be adorable and super cozy and homey.   In fact, the place really just looked like someone's house that was turned into a restaurant.  Since we were such a large group, they gave us our own private room upstairs which was great.  I think it was literally someone's bedroom because there was a built in closet in the corner.

The menu here is also very farm friendly with a variety of small and large plates.  With a group this large, we decided it would just be easier to order our own dishes rather than trying to split a bunch of dishes among 9 people.  The menu has got a little bit of everything:  small raw bar selection, meat and cheese plates, soups and salads, a variety of pastas, and then a bunch of seafood and meat based small and large plates.   I opted to go for the hierloom tomato salad ($10) and the pan roasted Long Island blackfish ($24).  I know that a tomato salad seems to basic but since we were literally in farmland, I figured that it must be a fantastic and fresh salad - which it was.  The tomatoes were ripe and juicy and served with a delicious burrata cheese, basil, basil aioli, and sea salt.  It's your classic summer salad and it was a great start to the meal.  After grilling for most of the weekend, I was excited to have some fish for dinner instead of meat, although I was a bit skeptical about this one because it was served with banana salsa.  I would have never envisioned banana and fish working together.  But it actually worked for this dish.  It was a fairly large piece of blackfish with a gentle sear of the skin on the outside and served with a Thai green curry, black rice and the banana salsa.  The fish was perfectly roasted and despite its name, it's really more of a firm white fish with a very mild taste to it.  It's very similar to a cod, sea bass or tilefish.  The banana salsa actually gave the dish some nice notes of sweetness to it without being too overpowering.   I also loved the presentation of the meal - it was very elegant but not in a snotty way.  Other people got the corn and watermelon salad, the shrimp special, the duck tacos and the pappardelle with lobster.   Everyone seemed pretty happy with their dishes across the board.

Overall, it was a great dinner in a lovely setting.  I loved that we got a private room (which in New York would most likely have cost us extra or forced us to order from a prix fixe menu) and that we were just able to enjoy ourselves as if we were in someone's home.  The food was inventive yet still pretty simple and it had a really nice local vibe.  The great news was that the same people who own the place are going to cater our friend's wedding, so I'm incredibly excited to see what kind of yummy food we'll be having in a few months.  Total bill:  $112/pp with tax, tip and tons of wine

Love Lane Kitchen Visited 7/5/2014 3 Forks

Love Lane Kitchen 240 Love Ln, Mattituck, NY 11952

Love Lane Kitchen is one of those places that has so much potential as it is the quintessential adorable North Fork restaurant.  If it just wasn't for the awful service we had, I could have seen myself giving this place 4 forks  A bunch of us were visiting Jenn and Eric at their gorgeous house in Mattituck and went out for brunch at what looked like the only local brunch spot.  The surrounding neighborhood is peaceful, calming and much more my speed than the craziness of the the other side of Long Island.   Everything about this part of town seems much more rustic and low key.

Love Lane Kitchen is a classic small town farm to table restaurant.  They have cute long wooden tables and lovely local flowers as centerpieces.  Unfortunately, since we were such a large party, they had to break us up into two different tables, which was fine.  But when  5 of us sat down at the larger table, I noticed that the hostess had seated different group of 4 right next to us.  I didn't understand why they couldn't seat our other group of 4 next to us.  Oh well.

In terms of the menu, all the dishes sounded like they used ingredients just picked from the local farm and many of the breakfast/brunch options sounded like your standard comfort dishes.  We had arrived right at the hour where you could either do breakfast or lunch and when I saw that they had a lobster roll on the lunch menu, I was immediately torn about what to order.  I decided to opt for the lobster roll since I was "on vacation" ($24) and I don't really eat it much in the city.  While they did have the specials listed on the chalkboard behind us, I was a bit annoyed that our waitress did nothing to talk about the specials unlike some of the other waitresses around us.  It would have been nice to at least have them described to us before making a decision. Anyways, it was fine since I knew I was getting the lobster roll and I know what a lobster roll is made of.  Then this is where things went down hill.  We must have waited almost 40 minutes for our food.  Tables who clearly came in after us were getting their food before us and our other friends who were sitting at another table got their food so far ahead of us that they had to leave because they couldn't sit at their table any longer.  We had flagged our waitress several times and she kept saying it was coming but I think they clearly forgot and instead of being apologetic about it, they kept deflecting.  Finally we got our food and I will say that the good thing was that lobster roll was very full of lobster - which is always a great thing.  But two comments that bothered me about the dish:  (1) there was way too much celery in it.  I was picking out tons of huge chunks of it and I just don't think you need any celery in a good lobster roll (2) they split the bun directly in half, so all the filling came spilling out.  Ideally, the bun should still stay intact on the bottom so that all the lobster filling can stay in place.  So it ended up being a really messy dish.  It wasn't a bad lobster roll but it also wasn't my favorite.

All in all, this place is still adorable and given the lack of much else in the area, I would still definitely go back.  It's possible that the service was just off on that particular day but after reading Yelp, it sounds like it might be a consistent flaw to the place - which is too bad.  Total bill:  $24/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Old Stove Pub Visited 6/29/2014 4 Forks

Old Stove Pub 3516 Montauk Hwy, Bridgehampton, NY 11932

I was totally shocked when I read all these awful reviews about this place on Yelp that it made me wonder if I ate at a totally different place.  After reading a few more reviews, it sounds like there was management change in the past few years, but even so, unless I was totally delusional, I actually quite enjoyed my dinner there.  It might have been because we went really early and we opted for the very affordable prix fixe dinner whereas most of the negative reviews seemed to focus on how expensive it was, the bad steak and poor service.

Virginia, Christine and I stopped by this place on the way home from East Hampton knowing that we would get stuck in bad traffic on the way home.  Originally, I had assumed that this place would serve typical pub food like burgers and fries.  I mean it's called the Old Stove Pub from Christ sakes!  But lo and behold, it was actually Greek food.  Who knew?  During the summer, they have a great prix fixe deal of $29 that included a salad, appetizer, entree and dessert.  Considering most of the entrees are in the $25+ range, it's a great deal even if you can't eat all the food.  Instead of all of us getting the prix fixe meal, we opted to split one of the deals and then added on a few extras to round out the meal.  For the prix fix, we got the classic Greek Salad, the grape leaves, gyro entree with fries, and then added on the 3 dip combination ($18), the spanikopita ($14) and the saganaki ($11).  As you can see from the extras that we ordered, it can be pricey ordering individual dishes.

As I've mentioned many times before, I am a huge sucker for Greek food and I thought the food here was great with the exception of the saganaki - which I generally am not a huge fan of because if you let it sit for a while, it just gets hard, coagulated and just unappealing.  The Greek salad had tons of red, ripe fresh tomatoes, local cucumbers and a nice giant square of feta cheese.  Delicious.  The dips were your classic tzatziki (which I would slather on top of anything and everything), a roasted red pepper dip and an eggplant dip.  It was served with warm pita and it was fantastic.  The grape leaves were tasty and also a great add for the table.   Next I tried the spanikopita which had a nice flakey outside and a rich filling of spinach, onions and cheese.  Finally, I tried the gyro - which was served with a pita wrap but with all the other carb heavy things on the table and the fries that it came with, there was no way I was going to actually eat it like a gyro sandwich.  The couple of slices of meat I had was flavorful and it was topped with tons of tzatziki and red onion.  The fries were also thick and crispy and I couldn't stop eating them with the dips even though I really wanted to. 

In the end, we were so full that we just asked for the bill without even asking about the dessert that came with the prix fix meal.  The one fun thing about our meal was that it was the same time as the Greece World Cup game and it was a lot of fun to watch the staff and management be so into the game - and yes, plates were broken when they lost the game.  Judging from all the bad reviews I read on Yelp, it sounded like most people didn't order Greek food or maybe that was from before they changed management?  But in any case, I would just say, if you're in a Greek restaurant, it's probably best to stick to Greek food and you'll be fine.  Total bill:  $27/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Facebook

Bostwick's Chowder House Visited 6/28/2014 4 Forks

Bostwick's Chowder House 277 Pantigo Rd., East Hampton, NY 11937

Ahh, now this is what I was thinking of when I visited the Hamptons.  One of my favorite things in life is a seafood shack and this one did not disappoint.  It's still the Hamptons afterall, so it's not a total run down shack but it did have a rugged mom and pop feel to it.  The place was packed, so we waited in the lovely garden out back where they have a "drive up" window where you can order drinks and hang out. 

Once inside,  I was totally overwhelmed with my options: steamers, clams, raw bar, chowder, crab cakes, lobsters, fried everything, fish tacos made with poke, lobster tacos, and then of course every kind of seafood in roll formation - lobster, clam, oyster, crab, and flounder.  I literally thought my heart was going to explode with excitement.   What's even better is the total lack of formality here,  everything is served in paper and plastic plates and containers (yes - a bit wasteful for the environment) which I just prefer to the white table cloth environment.  After carefully evaluating my options, I decided on the lobster bisque ($7.95) and the girls and I split the steamers and I had to get the lobster roll with a side of potato salad.  

The bisque was quite nice although I'll be honest I wish it had more lobster in it (I mean, you can't ever have enough lobster), but it was a solid start to the meal.  Next came the steamers and it's been a while since I've had steamers and I forgot how much I enjoy them.  Although I get why they may not be everyone's cup of tea because of the sandiness and the texture, I was really happy with this dish.  They give you both a delicious bowl of butter and the hot broth to dip it in, which is the best part of the dish. 

Next came the lobster roll and it was a doozy. It was one of the fullest lobster rolls I've seen in a long time.  They most certainly did not skimp on the lobster meat here - it was packed to the brim.  It was the Maine type of roll with the mayo mixed in it.   It was fantastic with only a few comments.  I hate celery and there was too much of it in the mixture and secondly, it was a bit too chopped up.  I would have loved to had bigger chunks of lobster versus the chopped/shredded consistency here.  One of the great things about lobster is biting into a big juicy piece of the claw or tail but I'm not going to complain too much here since I really did enjoy the roll. 

Overall, I was a huge fan of this place - even though it is also a place apparently visited by celebrities.  I can see how it could be a local scene but it's a scene that I would most definitely welcome.   It's most definitely a place that I hope to come back to whenever I find my way back to the Hamptons.  As for the other dishes, they all looked wonderful, especially the tuna poke tacos.  I wish they offered a poke only dish but it only came in taco form which I think isn't the ideal way to serve poke, but I'm sure it was still delicious.  Total bill:  $49/pp tax and tip

Bay Kitchen Bar Visited 6/27/2014 2.5 Forks

Bay Kitchen Bar  39 Gann Rd., East Hampton, NY 11937

Even though the Hamptons isn't really my scene, I was incredibly excited to spend time with some friends, relax and most importantly eat great seafood.  I haven't spent a lot of time in the Hamptons, so I let my friends take the lead on all our dinner outings.  We arrived at Bay Kitchen pretty late (around 9:30) and despite that, the place was still kickin and super crowded.   We ended up waiting a while for a table but it was totally fine because we just hung out by the bar and had some yummy cocktails.   We were initially hoping to have gotten there for the sunset but clearly we missed that window - although I could tell that this place would be wonderful for a sunset cocktail due to its location right on the water. Oh well, next time!

The menu looked great - very seafood focused from a raw bar, crudo dishes, different ceviches, and a bunch of fish dishes.  They also have a whole section of meat and poultry as well.  We decided to start with the calamari ($18) and the meatballs ($12) because we were all starving and needed something in our stomachs.  I had my mind set on getting the lobster roll so I was incredibly bummed when the waitress told me they were out of it.  She then proceeded to tell us how they were also out of a bunch of specials.  I guess it was late in the night but seriously why even bother telling us that you have specials that you can't offer them to us.  So instead I opted for the mustard crusted Montauk tuna ($32) medium rare.  The girls got a bunch of stuff ranging from a cold half lobster, raw clams, chicken and scallops.

The calamari was chickpea crusted and then served with roasted garlic tomato salsa - it was a pretty good starter and it was nice and crispy.  I liked the use of the chickpea crust as it was lighter than your traditional breading on calamari.  The meatballs were tomato braised and made with sheep's milk and served with fava beans and lemon.  It was pretty moist and I loved the sauce on it but it was rather heavy for a starter.  Then this is where things turned for the worse.  We waited and waited and waited for our entrees that we were starting to think that maybe they forgot our food.  Finally our food arrived but even after that the glass of wine I ordered also took forever to arrive.  There's nothing more I hate then waiting for something like a glass of wine that should only take 5-10 minutes to show up.  As for my tuna, it was covered in a tomato vinaigrette and served with a variety of nicoise vegetables. Honestly, I just thought there was too much going on the plate.  The tuna itself was nicely medium rare but I generally like my fish dishes clean and not with so much stuff with it.  I would have preferred less sauce and steamed vegetables or lightly sauced vegetables.  I did clean my plate, so clearly I enjoyed it but I felt like I would have liked it a lot more if it was a simpler dish.

All in all, I could tell it was a lovely restaurant and the menu was great.  While my dish was fine, there was a bit too much going on with it for me to say that it was a fantastic tuna dish.  The service was really painfully slow, despite it being so late in the evening.  I could tell that this place would be a lovely place for a sunset cocktail - so maybe get there around 6-7 for a cocktail and then either be really patient for your food or check out another place afterwards (especially if you are hungry).  Total bill:  $63/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp