Brew it Up has a new special that might be worth a mention. They call it Wine Wednesday and from 4:00 to 6:00 you can get up to 60% off selected wines.
Also, their happy hour is every day from 4:00 to 6:00 and from 10:00 to close, Thursday to Saturday. Specials include $1 off drafts, house wine, classic cocktails and well drinks. Selected appetizers are $3.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
'Aura'ble Service
Apparently there isn't a bad pun I won't try!
Anyway... there once was the Black Pearl and then there was Gianni's. Now there's a brown suede restaurant and bar called Aura that has opened up between Centro and GV Hurley's on that coveted strip on J Street. According to the sign out front their grand opening was to be July 19th, but my friend and I wandered in on July 18th to check it out.
We're not going back.
When I arrived 10 minutes late, Nancy was sitting at a table in the bar. She had already ordered a glass of Pinot Noir that hadn't arrived. They couldn't find the bottle so the waitress offered her a big apology and a Pinot Grigio instead. Nancy said she'd wait and see if they found the bottle.
Finally we have our wines and are deep in chit chat. They bring over a basket lightly toasted white bread -- French perhaps -- and some dipping sauce. We'd each had a slice when the busser asked if he could take it out of our way. Since there were four slices left we said we were still working on it.
We talked for a while and decided to order. I tried to ignore the misspellings on the menu. There are a couple of appetizers, a couple of salads, a few entrees and two desserts. None of the items had descriptions, just names, so we asked the waitress what was on the Chopped Salad. She had to go check with the kitchen. Nancy liked the sound of it and ordered it with grilled chicken. I opted for the seared ahi brushetta with humus (sic). Our order took a really long time. I don't know how long because Nancy is a great conversationalist -- but mine was virtually raw and she had salad -- so the holdup didn't make sense. When it did come out, I am shocked at the size of Nancy's salad. I know I'm not at Buca de Beppo and I know we Americans' portions are too big but if there was a cup of salad in the enormous bowl I would be surprised. Plus, her $2 chicken add-on was three slices off a grilled chicken breast. The salad was more than $12 so I expected more. Oh... and it was the wrong salad. After all that, they brought her the California Salad (roughly three slices of avocado and three slices of tomato). The waitress came back with more genuine apologies and fixed the order. It was another 10 minutes or more till the right salad came back. It didn't get any bigger though.
My ahi was OK -- not great. It was that same white bread from the basket with hummus and a fairly generous portion of tuna. It just didn't have much flavor.
Midway through our meal -- we both have food on our plates -- the busser came back and asked if he could clear them. When we said that we were still eating, he asked if he could take the wine glasses. Both had several sips left in them. I wonder if all their plates and glassware wasn't making it's debut till the grand opening.
At this point the place, which was almost empty when we arrived at 8:30, was packed and loud in the bar area. the restaurant side still seemed sparsely populated. A annoying addition to the crowd was a trio of Don Julio tequila girls trying to tempt us with shots. We passed.
After what seemed like forever, the waitress brought our check. She was thoughtful enough to comp the salad, but still charged us for the chicken. We were also charged the wrong prices for our wines. It had taken so long to get the check and frankly we just wanted to leave so I didn't haggle and decided to eat the few dollars. We each gave a credit card and asked her to split the $50 check down the middle. Many minutes later she comes back with our cards -- both charged with $44.07. Now I'm no math whiz but $44.07 times 2 does not equal $50. It took another lifetime to get that corrected. The manager came over with more apologies and our revised credit card slips. She asked if everything else was OK during the meal and we gave an unenthusiastic "sort of" as a reply. She bounded off with a "that's great! we'll see you soon!"
No, she won't. I would say don't go at all unless you like a lot of apologies with your lettuce.
Anyway... there once was the Black Pearl and then there was Gianni's. Now there's a brown suede restaurant and bar called Aura that has opened up between Centro and GV Hurley's on that coveted strip on J Street. According to the sign out front their grand opening was to be July 19th, but my friend and I wandered in on July 18th to check it out.
We're not going back.
When I arrived 10 minutes late, Nancy was sitting at a table in the bar. She had already ordered a glass of Pinot Noir that hadn't arrived. They couldn't find the bottle so the waitress offered her a big apology and a Pinot Grigio instead. Nancy said she'd wait and see if they found the bottle.
Finally we have our wines and are deep in chit chat. They bring over a basket lightly toasted white bread -- French perhaps -- and some dipping sauce. We'd each had a slice when the busser asked if he could take it out of our way. Since there were four slices left we said we were still working on it.
We talked for a while and decided to order. I tried to ignore the misspellings on the menu. There are a couple of appetizers, a couple of salads, a few entrees and two desserts. None of the items had descriptions, just names, so we asked the waitress what was on the Chopped Salad. She had to go check with the kitchen. Nancy liked the sound of it and ordered it with grilled chicken. I opted for the seared ahi brushetta with humus (sic). Our order took a really long time. I don't know how long because Nancy is a great conversationalist -- but mine was virtually raw and she had salad -- so the holdup didn't make sense. When it did come out, I am shocked at the size of Nancy's salad. I know I'm not at Buca de Beppo and I know we Americans' portions are too big but if there was a cup of salad in the enormous bowl I would be surprised. Plus, her $2 chicken add-on was three slices off a grilled chicken breast. The salad was more than $12 so I expected more. Oh... and it was the wrong salad. After all that, they brought her the California Salad (roughly three slices of avocado and three slices of tomato). The waitress came back with more genuine apologies and fixed the order. It was another 10 minutes or more till the right salad came back. It didn't get any bigger though.
My ahi was OK -- not great. It was that same white bread from the basket with hummus and a fairly generous portion of tuna. It just didn't have much flavor.
Midway through our meal -- we both have food on our plates -- the busser came back and asked if he could clear them. When we said that we were still eating, he asked if he could take the wine glasses. Both had several sips left in them. I wonder if all their plates and glassware wasn't making it's debut till the grand opening.
At this point the place, which was almost empty when we arrived at 8:30, was packed and loud in the bar area. the restaurant side still seemed sparsely populated. A annoying addition to the crowd was a trio of Don Julio tequila girls trying to tempt us with shots. We passed.
After what seemed like forever, the waitress brought our check. She was thoughtful enough to comp the salad, but still charged us for the chicken. We were also charged the wrong prices for our wines. It had taken so long to get the check and frankly we just wanted to leave so I didn't haggle and decided to eat the few dollars. We each gave a credit card and asked her to split the $50 check down the middle. Many minutes later she comes back with our cards -- both charged with $44.07. Now I'm no math whiz but $44.07 times 2 does not equal $50. It took another lifetime to get that corrected. The manager came over with more apologies and our revised credit card slips. She asked if everything else was OK during the meal and we gave an unenthusiastic "sort of" as a reply. She bounded off with a "that's great! we'll see you soon!"
No, she won't. I would say don't go at all unless you like a lot of apologies with your lettuce.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
No Paradise Here
I found myself in Placer County last night. And while most know my distaste of all things Roseville, when I go to visit friends and family in the 'burbs, Roseville is usually the only place to go for food. I've had some good experiences (Blue Nami) and some really bad ones. Unfortunately, last night was a really bad one.
I've heard of Paradise Grill before, but never been. I like Paradise, I like grills, and we were looking for something fairly inexpensive. Should have been perfect. Paradise, even. No such luck.
We sat in the bar and waited for well over 15 minutes before anyone talked to us. But there were lots of servers around, but the two female bartenders (one in training) were too busy flirting with the table full of men behind us. When we were actually helped, it was strange service. Sort of on the uncomfortable side--I'm all for friendly service, but please don't call me "babe" or wink at me. That's just strange. (Although explains why the table of men were so happy.) It then took ten more minutes for us to get our drinks. My glass of wine was fine, but Mandy's pina colada was way more pina than colada. Whatever, we weren't expecting island perfection, it's Roseville after all. I did order a glass of water which took an additional ten minutes. Great.
Ten more minutes and they took our order. I ordered the tuna salad... Ok, I should have asked questions about it, but I really didn't want to engage in conversation with my winking bartender and her sidekick. I was expecting something really good when the bartender says, "Oh that's my FAVORITE salad! It's really good!" When it came out it was literally tuna salad, like the kind you make at home with mayo and all that, and I was expecting sliced tuna steak like the tuna in their appetizers. I actually make better salads at home. This was the lettuce mix from the bag (you know what I mean, the American variety), sliced black olives, peppercinis, shredded cheddar cheese, and half of an avocado. The tuna salad was in a mound in the middle (looked like from an ice-cream scoop) and when I took a scoop found half a tomato underneath it. Ok, whatever. I was more excited about the avocado than anything else, but when I turned it over so the inside was up, it was totally brown. Gross. I still ate it (I was starving) but couldn't believe they were charging nearly ten dollars for it. Mandy had the hibachi chicken sandwich with fries. The fries were nearly cold (though they tasted ok) and the sandwich was so big she could barely fit it in her mouth. But it was all fried onions, not the chicken or bacon.
It took another ten minutes after we were clearly done eating for them to clear our plates and get us our bill. The only time the service was quick was when they ran my credit card--probably in an attempt to get us out of there because we were clearly not pleased. Mandy commented that the bathroom was the best part--but when the bathroom is the highlight of the evening, you know it's bad.
I'll never go back again. The food was mediocre, but the service was slow, and weird. I also have never seen so many men in baseball hats in one restaurant at a time. I was so happy to get back to midtown!!
I've heard of Paradise Grill before, but never been. I like Paradise, I like grills, and we were looking for something fairly inexpensive. Should have been perfect. Paradise, even. No such luck.
We sat in the bar and waited for well over 15 minutes before anyone talked to us. But there were lots of servers around, but the two female bartenders (one in training) were too busy flirting with the table full of men behind us. When we were actually helped, it was strange service. Sort of on the uncomfortable side--I'm all for friendly service, but please don't call me "babe" or wink at me. That's just strange. (Although explains why the table of men were so happy.) It then took ten more minutes for us to get our drinks. My glass of wine was fine, but Mandy's pina colada was way more pina than colada. Whatever, we weren't expecting island perfection, it's Roseville after all. I did order a glass of water which took an additional ten minutes. Great.
Ten more minutes and they took our order. I ordered the tuna salad... Ok, I should have asked questions about it, but I really didn't want to engage in conversation with my winking bartender and her sidekick. I was expecting something really good when the bartender says, "Oh that's my FAVORITE salad! It's really good!" When it came out it was literally tuna salad, like the kind you make at home with mayo and all that, and I was expecting sliced tuna steak like the tuna in their appetizers. I actually make better salads at home. This was the lettuce mix from the bag (you know what I mean, the American variety), sliced black olives, peppercinis, shredded cheddar cheese, and half of an avocado. The tuna salad was in a mound in the middle (looked like from an ice-cream scoop) and when I took a scoop found half a tomato underneath it. Ok, whatever. I was more excited about the avocado than anything else, but when I turned it over so the inside was up, it was totally brown. Gross. I still ate it (I was starving) but couldn't believe they were charging nearly ten dollars for it. Mandy had the hibachi chicken sandwich with fries. The fries were nearly cold (though they tasted ok) and the sandwich was so big she could barely fit it in her mouth. But it was all fried onions, not the chicken or bacon.
It took another ten minutes after we were clearly done eating for them to clear our plates and get us our bill. The only time the service was quick was when they ran my credit card--probably in an attempt to get us out of there because we were clearly not pleased. Mandy commented that the bathroom was the best part--but when the bathroom is the highlight of the evening, you know it's bad.
I'll never go back again. The food was mediocre, but the service was slow, and weird. I also have never seen so many men in baseball hats in one restaurant at a time. I was so happy to get back to midtown!!
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