There had to have been a full moon the other night when I dined at Ten Penny, because things were just weird. I've dined here a number of times, including brunch, lunch and dinner. I've had pretty good experiences so far, so when me and my date were looking for a dinner option on a recent Saturday night, I suggested having dinner here. We had no issue getting a reservation around 7:45 and we were quickly seated in the rear of the restaurant. I love the ambiance of this place - it's sexy and very rustic. What I hate is that they take it all the way down to the tables. For example. the table we sat at was formerly a drafting table. So, to my (knees) surprise, they were literally up against a large wheel under the table - ouch! I can look beyond this, but definitely not a great choice for a table. Things got interesting when the waiter came by. If all my previous experiences here are good, the reason why they haven't been great is because of the wait staff. I've found they either provide too much attention or the extreme opposite. On this particular night, I found him to be extremely attentive, but in an annoying, you need to calm down kind of way. We wanted to order a bottle of wine, something in the $30-40 range. When I ordered the bottle, the waiter seemed confused and directed me to another page in the menu where wine prices seemed more than double that cost. Confused, I asked, \"Didn't I just order a bottle?\" It was awkward. I couldn't figure out if he was trying to upsell me, confuse me, or what not. We ordered the salmon and cioppino dish - both seafood. For an appetizer, we order the shrimp and grits. I enjoyed the appetizer, although my date was looking for a more traditional serving a grits (here, it is a fried grit patty). Our entrees came relatively quickly and were delivered by our server and a busser. The busser standing closest to me held the salmon, the waiter held the cioppino. Here's where it got really wacky. I counted the waiter directing the busser to place the salmon in front of my date almost four times before he ended up just dropping the plate on the table. Perhaps the guy was nervous or had a bout of the shakes, but it was awkward. I wanted to just grab the plates out of their hands. My guests would have been fine scrapping the food off the table and eating it, but I was not having that, so we sent the meal back to the kitchen. The waiter then proceeded to take the cover off the cioppino. I refused to eat the meal until my date's meal was back at the table (which was the right thing to do). Waiter was apologetic and noted that he'd bring some food out to us while we waited. We received bread - some moist mini muffins and two awfully dry pretzel buns with a pumpkin butter - leftovers from brunch perhaps? I shouldn't have eaten those bland calories, but I was hungry and was quickly getting buzzed off the overpriced bottle of wine. Our meals finally returned and we got to work. Neither my guest or I really loved our meals, both noting they lacked a bit of flavor and uniqueness, although the preparation on the plate was clean and nice. \n\nListen, I've been a waiter and even spilled soup on someone's foot. Things happen and I get that, but I noted above how service always seems to be questionable here. Would I return? Yep, but I'd strongly suggest the management staff try to instill some consistency and standards within its wait staff. This place has a lot going for it and I do want to see it continue to succeed.
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