This place is so lucky it redeemed itself with fantastic food, because the notes I was taking weren't so hot. This really is a prime example for Kitchen Nightmares. \n\nFirst, the hostess made the mistake of making us stand by the door for 15 minutes after scoffing that we didn't have reservations. She literally acted like she hoped we would just leave. Finally she said, \"well I can sit you at the bar if you want\". Then another 10 minutes to get us menus.\n\nLet's just say, sitting at the bar gave us the extreme look into the kitchen and all it's awfulness. Without seeing \"behind the scenes\" I might have felt more favorable about the restaurant in general.\n\nFirst of all, they had three waitstaff, except there was a guy doing drinks and the blonde lady who was taking orders. Then you have this 15 year old girl (approx.) running around serving all the tables, making all of the salads from scratch, cooking the bread, delivering the bread, fetching refills on drinks, gathering the dirty dishes and bringing them out back and even doing prep work for the cooks. The poor girl was running around like a chicken with her head cut off and didn't even have a frown about it. Nobody else on the staff even cracked a smile, never mind even talked to each other.\n\nI also have to give props to the chef who was very attentive and made sure everyone liked their food. When he made a steak, he made sure it was cooked exactly how they wanted it and refired when necessary. And the food was amazing, so he's got it going on.\n\nUnfortunately, there were a few things. \n\nFirst, the salad bowls are inches from the ground, on the bottom shelf of the prep table. When the girl made a salad, she was pulling it up from the bottom shelf to use the bowl to mix the salad in. Too close to the floor for my taste. Also, all the salads besides Caesar have MOUNDS of Olives in them, so make sure to ask for no olives if you don't like them.\n\nAlso, the lettuce bin is in the drink station, located an inch from the handwashing station. It would be a miracle if spilled drinks and soap didn't get into the lettuce.\n\nThey also use frozen fish. I don't eat fish, but I'm sure people care about this.\n\nHOWEVER, in terms of our food... it was fantastic. I got the Rigatoni Arriabata and it was probably the best I've ever tasted. It's very spicy, but that's just how I like it. My boyfriend got a steak and it was seasoned well and cooked perfectly.\n\nHonestly, the chef and the young girl pretty much ran the restaurant themselves. The blonde just walked around aimlessly and I have no idea what I guy was doing besides giving more dishes to the young girl to bring out back. Maybe he was waiting tables, but I only ever saw him making drinks.\n\nLike I said.. GREAT food but a prime candidate for Kitchen Nightmares. Also, I recommend the Caesar Salad. I didn't get it, but the garden salad was full of chopped olives and terrible.
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