My husband and I visited Rooster's in South Park for the first time on Saturday night.\n\nMy first impressions of the restaurant were excellent. We had made a reservation via OpenTable, and upon arriving for our 7:30 reservation at 7:25PM, the hostess took one glance at her terminal after asking my name and said, \"Your table is waiting, follow me.\" That's what I want to hear.\n\nOnce we were sat, however, it was a full 10 minutes before our server came to our table. After such a prompt seating by a hostess who conveyed gravitas and professionalism (she wasn't some college kid, which impressed me greatly) I was expecting promptness and seasoned professionalism throughout the place. \n\nOur waiter finally showed up, and didn't ask if we wanted to know the specials, or have any information for us. Instead, when I asked him about the beers on draft, he informed me that no beers were on draft (which is fine) and disappeared for another five minutes to get us a beer menu. \n\nHe placed it with us, then left again, then returned to ask us if we had decided on drinks. We had, so we ordered them, and again he was off - with no inquiry about if we had any questions on the menu, and no offer to take our order. Yeah, I was hungry. Got a problem with that?\n\nWe finally got bread, and water, which I had trouble getting refilled. I also drink a lot, and drink fast (which yes, caused me problems in my college days). I found that water-filling staff members would come and fill the water glasses of the newly-seated tables around us, without a single look at my empty water glass. Finally, I stopped one woman going to the table next to me and asked with my eyes and a nudge if she could spare some more water. \n\nOur orders were eventually placed and the food was good - very good. But the portions were small. The three stars are for the food, to be sure. My husband ordered the lamb chop special, which he very much enjoyed. He particularly enjoyed the mint sauce that came with it.\n\nI ordered the hangar steak, cooked medium, and the pan fried corn. I received hangar steak, cooked rare. Fortunately, I can enjoy steak cooked along the spectrum from rare to medium well, so I didn't send it back. Besides, I had waited long enough for my food, I wasn't about to let my server take it back so he could have them re-cook it and risk the spit. So yeah, when he checked in I smiled broadly and said, \"Everything is great!\" as I ate my steak that mooed. The corn was good, but nothing I couldn't easily recreate in a cast iron skillet at home with a few ears of fresh corn and some butter.\n\nThis restaurant visit was a part of our \"date night\" so my husband and I enjoyed the evening. The next day, my husband confessed to me that he was expecting more from a \"wood-fired kitchen\" - like, stuff that actually tasted like it had been cooked over a wood fire. Neither of our entrees had any smokiness to them. He had been itching to go to Firebirds, but we chose Rooster's instead because it was \"new\". Firebirds delivered more on the smoke when we last visited there.\n\nWe likely won't be going back to Rooster's for date-night in the future. The food was okay, but didn't wow me. The ambiance was \"meh\". The gem of the night was that fantastic professional hostess. I wish Noble could channel that excellence into the rest of the experience at Roosters.
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