Sometimes we wish there was a course for restaurateurs on what to do and what not to do when opening a place. Three recent openings are indicative of how things can quickly go awry:
New Upper West Side spot Slightly Oliver was promoted as a gastropub with cocktails from Albert Trummer, surely a welcome addition to the area's frat boy bars and generic food mills. Instead the reality is completely different, and no we're not talking about the DJs, which show they've already tossed in the towel quality-wise. On a recent night we arrived early and sat at the bar where we were witness to a bartender having a heated discussion with another staffer and a dish tasting by the staff in plain sight. Yes, they were open, and we persevered, ordering a pair of cocktails that were fine but overpriced at $12 - this isn't downtown folks. Clearly they've heard about the barrel aging trend - actually the entire place was an amalgamation of every current trend in the food world - and their Barrel Aged Apricot Infused Rye Manhattan was pretty good. But served by a woman in a low-cut cleavage enhancing top? Guys, we're not looking for a good time, just a well made drink. And don't even get us started on the clump of staff in the middle of the room or the scowling suit supposedly running things.
On another occasion, we dropped in at newcomer Bigoli, drawn by the appealing opening menu bandied about in the press. In a complete fail, not only was the menu dumbed down - no kurobuta pork chop, no game hen 'al mattone,' no wild mushrooms - but the room was beyond ugly, the waiter from the haughty academy of culinary arts, and the wine list an underpopulated joke full of run-of-the-mill wines and pricey, undrinkable young Barolos. Even worse, the world famous chef was out of town. Dude, you open in NYC, you better be in the house for at least a month, not in Vegas. Maybe they'll find their way but honestly no one would willingly want to eat the same old Italian food in that dowdy, awkward space.
Lastly we have the buzzed about, industry spot. This kind of place is fun if you are known to the owners and staff, but if you're not, watch out. We popped into Corkbuzz and found the owner entertaining some friends at the bar. That's fine and dandy but when your service is perfunctory, you might want to pay attention to someone other than your friends. When customers have to up-sell themselves on wine, especially expensive stuff, that's another issue. And at the end, don't give us a silly card telling us what else we might like when you don't interact with us to know what we know or don't know. The hint we know what we're doing might be in the wine we do order. It's called attention and should be paid as much as the check.
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