In our family, we have two birthdays around the holidays, so I had the chance to review two restaurants in two days, both for fine meals. On my son's birthday, the three of us went to Southern Rail, and the next night, to celebrate my wife's birthday we went to Tarbell's. Both were good in the food department. I'm giving Tarbell's a lower rating because of the terrible service we had that night -- and because it compared so terribly with the service we had at Southern Rail the night before. The food was not bad -- in fact, when the owner came by we were enjoying a terrific appetizer of roasted beets and it seemed to indicate a great meal was coming up. But then, things began to deteriorate as the night went on. We had an early reservation (6:30) and things were fine till our waiter had larger tables on either side of us. While this guy was taking care of his larger checks, we were neglected to the point that we never received a birthday treat for my wife (which was absolutely huge at Southern Rail), and to the point where we actually had to get up and flag the guy down to get our bill. Really, just quite poor service. It appears after our Tarbell's experience that any restaurant, even one with good fare, needs to review how the wait staff deals with smaller tables when those guests are sandwiched in between larger groups. [Hey, Mark -- I spent $150, aren't I entitled to a waiter when I need one?] For my money, I'll take Southern Rail. While the environment is not as sophisticated, the large plates of delicious food were simply outstanding and our waiter cared a great deal about ensuring our satisfaction. We hope that on our next visit to Tarbell's we'll receive a bit more attention.
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