La Belle et La Boeuf: A Review

I want to preface my food blog posts by saying this: I am an extremely picky eater. I hate a lot of things that most people LOVE. I can't stand ketchup, mayo, mustard, pickles, onions, you get the picture. I'm the girl who orders a plain cheeseburger... So no, my reviews aren't HARSH or CRITICAL of a venue its just that I am PICKY. It's MY opinion.

So tonight my husband decided he wanted to go try a place called La Belle et La Boeuf (which is a "cute" play on words and meant to sound like The Beauty and The Beast). In English their name literally means "the Pretty and the Beef"....or Burger Bar.

Appearance: I have to say that I'm really torn about the look of the venue. I love the graffiti on the walls, it gives the restaurant a really urban feel...and then I get confused by the tables randomly in the middle...that gives it a real barn yard feel. I am so happy that there was one super spacious and comfortable booth available for us because I didn't feel like sitting smack dab in the middle of the place and would freeze my butt off with the door opening. Those tables are just really weirdly placed. I blame the actual SPACE of the restaurant  It has a lot of angles that make no sense and the owners obviously did what they could to maximize the amount of people/tables they could have in one given space. It's normal. But the look itself is really confusing to me. Super high ceilings (LOVE!), graffiti on the walls (love), oak looking tables in the middle of the dining area (not a fan of). They have the most amazing bar I've ever seen with shelves and shelves of "the good stuff" that they even have a ladder to get things down. It's fun and playful. I like it.  I give the appearance 4 out of 5.

Menu: Sorry owners of La Belle et La Boeuf you lost some MAJOR points here. Your menu is ONLY in French. Most places in Montreal/Laval have English menu's for their English speaking clients. If NOT the descriptions of the food are in both languages. If I don't know what the hell is on the menu how can I decide what I want? I only pretend to not be able to read/understand French but it doesn't mean that I don't want to feel COMFORTABLE when making a decision regarding my food. Anyway they have flimsy paper menu's that make you feel like you are in your pre-teens and teens again (depending on your current age I guess). They have snap shots of celebrities on the front and back cover and its really eye catching and fun to try to guess who everyone is while waiting to be served.  I give menu design a 2 out of 5. I'm telling you, NOT having an English option is a huge point deduction.

Now let's get to what is ON the menu: BURGERS or POUTINE. Seriously, that is 95% of the menu. They have 3 types of Mac and Cheese if you are interested, a few salads, but the majority of the menu is based around burgers and poutine. Now its hard for me to pick a meal mainly because I'm not  huge fan of burgers and I hate poutine.

I started off ordering a drink the size of my head. We were lucky enough to arrive during their happy hour
which meant that we could get 1 litre mason jar drinks for half price. I went with a "Dead Kennedy" which was really tasty but I have no idea what the hell was in it. I remember something about rum and I was like "sold!" Can I make a suggestion? When serving drinks in huge ass mason jars you might want to consider getting mason jars with handles. I had to drink with two hands!   (Please ignore my no makeup self. I wasn't expecting to go out to eat the minute I got home from work!)

So now our waiter comes over to ask what we'd like to eat and I casually ask "Do you have an English menu" (I read a few reviews online and knew the answer to that question would be no) and he apologized and said they didn't. I asked him how I was supposed to know what to eat if I didn't have a menu and he said he could guide me through it. I told him it wasn't really necessary as I could read the basics. He convinced us to try an appetizer while we decided on what to read and told us about the deep fried pickles. I can't stand pickles but then he said they are marinated in cherry Kool-Aid and that took me back to being 10 and going to my best friend's house and drinking the sugary goodness! I said I'd try it. I'm glad I did!!

They were just crunchy enough, just sour enough, just sweet enough. They were in other words, perfect. What wasn't so perfect was the sauce. You could still taste that mayo was the main ingredient (did you see I mentioned I hated it above?) and it was just HOT. No real flavor to the mayo other than hot. I like heat but I like sweet heat, or smoky heat... I like the heat to taste like something not just burn my mouth. The dipping sauce lacked flavor. But the pickles...oh my yummy.

Now I wasn't really in the mood for a burger but I decided on the "Avocado Burger". It was a burger with avocado, tomato/onion salsa, and ranch dressing (I asked for it on the side). Before trying the burger as a whole I took a taste test of just the burger. It was boring. There was ZERO flavor. No smoke, no grill, no seasoning...it just tasted like cooked, unseasoned beef. So take it as a warning, if you are going here do not order a plain burger, order something that will give the meat flavor. I bit into my burger and my mouth was so happy. I hate onions but I love salsa and this one had great flavor. The avocado was neither over ripe or underripe. It was excellent. My only suggestion would be to cut the tomato chunks smaller. They were too large and kept jumping out of my burger.  I got a side of fries and cole slaw (and a pickle again..that i didn't eat...because it wasn't fried). The fries were shoestring fries and needed salt...and the coleslaw was bland. The sides didn't do it for me but the burger was great.

The husband went with something a lot more adventurous than I'd ever try. He went with a peanut butter burger with bananas. For those of you who know me in real life will know that a group of my friends and I took a road trip to Boston to have a Peanut Butter Burger. You have some mighty high expectations to live up to La Belle et La Boeuf! The verdict? My husband loved it. He ate every last bite of that burger...me...I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole because it looked messy. (Again, I'm not a huge fan of peanut butter, in fact my daughter is nearly 3 and I've never given her a PB&J sandwich because I don't like peanut butter...unless its covered in chocolate!) Oh did I mention it had bananas and BACON? His sides were onion rings and coleslaw too.

I'm PMSing and wanted to have some comfort food too so we decided to try some mac and cheese. They have 3 types on their menu: plain, with hot dogs, with smoked meat. Me, being boring, chose plain. It was okay but a bit too runny for me. I don't like soupy mac and cheese. I like it to be more together...more congealed? (no picture because I don't like slop!)

By now I'm completely full (did I tell you that at 3pm I had a slice of red velvet cheesecake that I made? Hey, I'm PMSing...) but husband wanted to try dessert. Our waiter suggested to us the deep fried toast...which is basically a fried PB&J sandwich with bananas and drizzled (drenched) in maple syrup. I'm not a fan of any of those ingredients so I wasn't thrilled with the suggestion but my husband went with it. 

I took a bite of it and wanted to die. It was gross. I think I've come to a conclusion that peanut butter should NEVER EVER be served warm and toast like bread should never be deep fried then soaked in maple syrup. The fact that my husband was able to eat more than one or two bites kind of disgust me. Do his taste buds not work?!  So food wise I give them a 3 on 5

Service: Our waiter was Antonie and he was amazing. Super attentive, very helpful, and polite  He didn't just serve our food and leave. He asked our feed back, he told us his personal favorites. He was great and I wish that there were more waiters like him in the world! Service 5 on 5

Overall: I would probably go back to La Belle et La Boeuf but it would have to be on one of those nights when I'm really craving a hamburger. This isn't a place you can go to when you don't know what you want or if you aren't in a hamburger mood. I need more variety on my menu but if you are a burger lover this is the place to go!

Le Fumoir Rubs - A Review

Le Fumoir has the perfect combination of sweet and heat. Their sauces are to die for and the meats are perfectly smoked.  If you are looking for super tender fall off the bone ribs then don't come to Le Fumoir. The way we Southerns like our meat is with a little BITE to it. Sure, the meat at Le Fumoir is tender but BBQ is about being messy and their ribs require you to bite into them to get that full satisfaction of eating a rib.

The meat is tender, sweet, juicy, and the sauce adds a bit of heat. If you are looking for extra heat try another one of their sauces that they bring to the tables.

What else is amazing about Le Fumoir? Oh let's see: Great prices, HUGE portions, GREAT flavor. It really is all you can ask for.

So far I've tried the following dishes:

Pulled Pork Sandwich:  I really wish I would have read the entire description because I'm not a fan of the slaw in my sandwich but I can't complain, it was great. And its a really nice way of making me NOT have to order slaw as a side.

Smoked Mac & Cheese:  To quote Haley from One Tree Hill "Mac and Cheese is the food of Gods". Well Haley, if you've ever had Fe Fumoir's Mac and Cheese I can definitely agree with you on that! Rich, creamy, just enough smoke flavor, gooey melted cheese...where exactly can you go wrong with this dish? I think I could actually eat this as an entire meal. 

Slaw: Have you ever had slaw with apples and poppy seeds? I hadn't until I went to Le Fumoir and I don't think I can ever go back to another slaw again. Do you think the owner would give me the recipe? 

Beef Ribs: Y'all can talk about pork baby back ribs all you want but those are a dime a dozen in Montreal. Rich SMOKED beef ribs with that smoke ring and pink center. OHMYGOD! Just enough pull to make me feel like I'm eating real ribs and that excellent flavorful dry rub. Do they deliver?

Beef Brisket: This is a Southern Staple. If you can get this meat right then you've made it. Le Fumoir, I'm happy to announce that you've made it. Officially the BEST brisket I've had outside of Texas! 

Fries/ Sweet Potato Fries: Excellent flavor. Excellent seasoning. So tasty. NOT Frozen fries. Believe me, I'd know!!

Beef Ribs: Holy smokes! These ribs are HUGE! Bigger than my head. I do not understand how anyone in their right mind can actually eat 3 of these! Tender, meaty, smokey, juicy, literally melts the second this touches your mouth. Everyone I've been with has tried this and fallen in love!

Pulled Pork Poutine: These Quebecers are all about their cheese curd and covering fries with gravy. At first I was hesitant, I was a little afraid...and then I fell in love. The pulled pork is just a miracle meat that makes everything amazing.

Smoked Veggies: Excellent side dish. Smoked veggies later mixed with balasamic vinegar and oil. My gosh, a party in my mouth. 

Chocolate Covered Bacon: I didn't think there was a way to incorporate meat into a dessert but RUBS managed to do it. Chocolate covered bacon covered with nuts and served with ice cream. Oh la la!

Reading this review you'll probably think I'm 500 pounds but in the sake of disclosure, I've been numerous times and have tried food off of my friends plates.

Want my personal suggestion: KEEP GOING BACK! The food is amazing and you slowly have to work your way down the menu!

More bad food - Seriously

It seems I have a knack for choosing crappy places to eat. A few months ago I wrote about a dining experience gone way way wrong.. A little update to that: My sister and I went back with our husbands and parents a few months ago. AMAZING food and amazing service. We were more than pleased.

But....There is a restaurant in my city called Tripoli, its a Greek place with amazing food. The food has NEVER been bad but the service, OMG, the service is horrible. Every single time we go we complain about the service. If you are drinking beer you need to order 3 at a time just to ensure you'll have enough to get you through the meal.

Last time I was there was October 2010. We went for a friend's birthday. We started our dinner at 7pm and ended at 11pm. It wasn't because we were drinking and enjoying ourselves, it was because the service was soooooooo slow. I said I wouldn't go back because I just don't enjoy myself. I don't enjoy waiting 45 minutes for our EMPTY plates to be taken away in order to bring us our next course. I don't enjoy waiting 45 minutes for you to bring me a glass of water. It just isn't enjoyable and no matter how good the food is, its not worth it to me. I swore I wouldn't go back. I did pretty good, nearly a year.

Today I get home from work and this is the conversation we had:

DH: Hey did George call or text you?
Me: No, why? What's up?
DH: Where is your phone?
Me: In my back pocket. Why George, what is up? Is something wrong.
DH: Can you look at your phone?
(I pull my phone out of my pocket and see that I do NOT have a missed call or text)
DH: Well he's going to call or text you soon to see if you want to go out for dinner tonight...............to Tripoli.
Me: Man really? Okay fine since its George.

A few minutes later the house phone rings and we confirm that we are going to meet there at 7pm. I change D's clothes and get dressed pack the diaper bag and walk to the car.

We get to Tripoli where we are greeted by the owners wife. She asks if we are only 2 plus the baby. I said no, 6 plus the baby. We get seated and we are now waiting for the rest of our party to arrive.

3 minutes later the owners wife comes up to just George, myself, and the baby and says, "Would you like to place your order now or are you waiting on the rest of your party?" Uhhhh what the freak do you think? If we wanted to order ourselves, without the rest of our table we might as well stayed home.

So now our entire table is seated, we are waiting....and waiting....and waiting.....for someone to come see us to ask if we'd like to order our food or maybe even a drink. We place the entire order TOGETHER. We ordered drinks, apps, and main meal at the same time to save the waitress the trouble of coming back to our table to keep taking orders. George orders 2 beers in one shot. Do you know how long we sat at a table with no food, no drinks, and no explanation as to why we had none? FORTY-FIVE minutes. Yes 45 minutes with an empty table.

Our appetizers get to the table before our drinks do. As the waitress is handing out the appetizers she says, "Your drinks are on their way." FROM WHERE? Freaking Mexico? Shouldn't they have arrived FIRST? A few more minutes pass and she comes by our table again and says," Your drinks will be right out." FINALLY our drinks come, George orders another beer just for good measure and my husband points out to the waitress that she forgot to bring one of plates from the kitchen. She rushes back and brings it to us.

Now we finish our apps, we are waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for the meal courses to be brought out. Heck, we are waiting for them to even come and pick up our app dishes. Nope, no luck. Another 45 minutes passes and the waitress tells us at this point, "Everything will be smooth sailing from this point on." The table behinds us gets up before their food arrives, complains to someone and walks out. I felt like doing the same thing but somehow George knows the guy and it would be rude. Really? It's rude making people wait that long for food and water...and did you notice notice the 17 month old with us who was getting very tired and VERY impatient?

Nothing was smooth sailing, we waited another 10 minutes for our food. While we are waiting for our food the restaurant begins to fill with smoke. Something was burning and of course they couldn't admit that by opening a door or window right? Oh and at this point we are debating just asking them to cancel our main meals. As we flag the waitress over she is bringing our salad/main course. The fries that our plates came with were so over cooked that they were actually chips...expect they weren't thin enough to be chips. Look, if I wanted chips I would have opened a bag of Lays and called it a night. This is insane. Everyone just shuts their mouths and eats the edible portions of their food.

We ask for the bill which does NOT get brought to us. My husband had to get up and go find the waitress in order to pay the bill. One of the waiters actually commented "I've worked in worse places" and "Yeah its really bad eh" and started laughing when I asked him if he wanted me to crush my fries and make confetti out of it.

When your staff starts to laugh at where he works its time for a change. It's time to either hire more wait staff or more kitchen staff. It's not like it was an off night. This has happened every single time we go there regardless of the day of the week.

Tomorrow I will call Tripoli and let the owner know what I think of their establishment and their service as well as leaving negative reviews on any and all food forums I can find. This is ridiculous. 

Mark my words, Tripoli will never get a dollar off of me. If you see me in there I give you the right to spit on me.

Dining Experience Gone Way Way Wrong

I could start off this post with a big fat lie and say something along the lines of "I'm not one to complain" but we'd all know that I'd be lying to you. I do complain. Isn't that why you people even bother to read this blog?

Last night had to go down in the books as the worst dining experience EVER. Seriously, my sister who NEVER complains or sends food back complained. In fact during her complaint I think she dropped the F-Bomb about 15 times....more on that later.

Let me give you a little history on this place. Last year we went to Sterlings Restaurant in Laval for my brother in laws birthday. We had reservations for 7:00pm. My husband and I were the first to arrive (very unusual, he always makes us run late) and I go to the hostess stand and inform them that we have arrived. They tell us "Just a minute while we prepare your table". Uh what the heck is the point of a reservation? Anyway, we take a seat at their waiting area and we wait for the rest of our party to arrive anyway. We were only 6 people. The rest of the group arrives and our table is still not ready. I go back to the hostess and ask her what exactly is the point of a reservation if I show up ON TIME and my table is not ready and its now 20 minutes past and I'm still waiting.. She had no answer. My brother in law got on his cell phone to call the owner of another restaurant near by to see if we could be seated there as we were HUNGRY. The other place was packed. Finally, 45 minutes later we are seated. We are seated at a MAKE SHIFT table in the bar. Yes, the bar DOES have tables but not this table. You can tell this table was just thrown there to appease us. It was in the way of everything and we kept having to scoot our chairs out of the way. It was horrible. The floor manager said he's comp our drinks. I rolled my eyes. The food was spectacular. My husband LOVES this place. We actually go pretty often, just the two of us, on a random Tuesday night.  We've never been disappointed.

The end of the night arrives and guess what. Our drinks weren't comped. Now what are you supposed to do? "Excuse me you said you'd give me a free round of drinks?" We just shut our mouths, paid the bill, and went on with our wonderful lives.

Fast forward to a year later. It is a friends birthday and his wife organized for all of us to go to Sterlings. Although last time their timing wasn't the greatest the food rocks. Seriously. Try the Prime Rib there. George and I are the first to arrive again (maybe that is what started the whole night off wrong). I go to the hostess table and inform them that we are here and have a 7:30pm reservation either under the name Nicole or Rody. The hostess and floor manager look at me as if I have 4 heads. Again I say Nicole OR Rody. The floor manager says "Follow me".

We walk past the bar, past the kitchen to the main dining room. He stops short of actually entering the dining room and says, "Second table on the left..." So I look around. Second table on the left is a round table set for 6 people. Perfect. We go sit down. A few minutes later the floor manager comes back and says "Sorry this table is reserved. Your party is already here," and he points to a larger table next to us filled with strangers. I say, "No we are not with them. This table is reserved for us." He says "But the Nicholas party is there." Okay thats great, I'm not with Nicholas. Again I say NICOLE OR RODY. He says we can keep the table either way...As if he is doing me a favor. The table was reserved for us to begin with just because those half wits can't read their own reservation chart....

So by 7:38 we are all seated. My sister and her husband have arrived, Nicole and her husband have arrived. We are all looking over the menu. The prime rib here is so good that it has limited quantities. Seriously. It's written on the menu. As the waitress takes our DRINK order my husband asks, "Do you still have prime rib available" and she said "Yes". Perfect. We place our order for our food as soon as we get our drinks. All the men wanted prime rib, I wanted Chilean sea bass, Nicole and my sister order filet mignon. Perfect.

We are sitting around for 30 minutes just drinking our drinks and munching on bread and butter (and I'm insisting they not eat so much bread because we ordered A LOT. We each got an appetizer and a main meal). Our waitress comes back (with no food) and says "I'm sorry I have some bad news but we do not have any more Prime Rib. The kitchen has just informed me". Excuse me? We asked for this over 30 minutes ago. It took over 30 minutes for the kitchen to be like "hey...no more prime rib okay?" I'm calling bullshit.

I tried to think of it logically. The waitress probably entered our appetizers into the computer first and then our main meal. I mean if you punch them at the same time the food will all be ready at the same time and that isn't right.....But its not what happened. I mean if that were the case you would have realized this WHILE we were eating our appetizer but we aren't. Have you even freaking punched in any part of our order?

My husband is now upset because it is the ONLY thing he eats from that restaurant. The birthday boy in a huge huff was like, "Just charge us for our drinks and we are leaving". My sister and I are like, "Um they have really good things on the menu that aren't prime rib" and my brother in law is very upset because he wanted that prime rib. The waitress saw the looks on our faces and obviously heard the comments and immediately went to get the owner. The owner apologized for the mix up and said he's comp our drinks. I rolled my eyes at that one. My brother in law flatly tells the owner that besides the prime rib the steak at this place sucks. He's tried it before and was less than impressed. I tried to tell the birthday boy and my brother in law that I've had a few things from the menu that I liked a lot to offer some suggestions. The owner insists that my brother in law order the filet mignon and if he doesn't like it he doesn't have to pay for it. My brother in law agrees.

So now this is what we ordered.
Me - Chilean Sea Bass
Husband - Veal Chop (cooked medium)
Sister - 8oz filet mignon (cooked medium)
Best Friend - 8 oz filet mignon (cooked medium)
Birthday Boy - Chicken breast
Brother in law - 12 oz filet mignon (cooked medium)

This is what we received.

Me - Chilean Sea Bass
Husband - Veal Chop (cooked medium)
Sister - 8 oz filet mignon (cooked BLUE, in other words NOT COOKED)
Best friend - 8 oz filet mignon (cooked medium)
Birthday boy - Chicken Breast
Brother in law - 8oz filet mignon (cooked medium)  (Yes 8oz instead of the 12 that was ordered)

At first my sisters steak was okay. In fact I made a joke that from the outside it was dry. The first few bites were medium and then it just got uncooked. It was disgusting. In fact it was cold. My brother in law was looking at his plate saying it wasn't a 12 oz. He's like "This has to be an 8oz". We asked the guy who brought the food and he said it was 12oz. Our waitress comes back to us and informs us that she heard 8oz when he ordered therefore it is an 8oz not a 12oz. That's bullshit. My brother in law ordered his meal in french since that was the waitresses first language. I heard him say 12 because I heard the word DOUZE a few times. In fact I thought he had ordered the filet mignon with DEUX shrimp. I knew that the number 2 was involved. (At this point we hadn't realized my sister's steak was raw, she eats slow).

Then she starts to poke at her food and audible moos come from it. She's disgusted and I'm very happy I am eating fish. Her and her husband trade plates because he says its not blue, its just medium. It's totally not medium. It's raw. If my husband won't eat it then its raw. The waitress comes to ask "Is everything okay here" and you hear 6 voices in unison say "NO!" She looks very taken back.

Birthday boy basically verbally attacks the waitress and that is where I chime in and say "It's not her fault that the kitchen ran out of prime rib or undercooked the meat. It is her fault for ordering the wrong portion size." Again she insists that she heard only 8 oz for my brother in law. But she is very sorry for my sister's steak. She walks away. The owner comes up to speak to us to see what is wrong and at this point my sister is about to fly off the lid so she goes out for a smoke. The owner tries to tell her he will fix her meal, give her something else to which she replied, "I don't want anything from you. I'm never coming here again."

The owner walks away unable to do anything. The waitress avoids our table. My sister returns from her smoke and now the floor manager walks by and causally asks, "How are things" and best friend replies, "You don't want to know, just walk away." He didn't walk away. He tried to listen to 5 people explain at the same time. I say 5 because my husband hates confrontation and walked away when I opened my mouth. It's usually not pretty when I complain.

My sister decided to explain to the floor manager what happened starting with last year. She used the following phrases, "last year we got fucked" "even though we got fucked we came back" "and then we fucking hear" "and again we were fucked" "and now I'm fucked" "I'm never fucking coming back" "I've fucking had enough" and a few other variations that I can't recall at the moment. She did drop the F bomb at least 15 times.

At this point I explain everything to the floor manager excluding what happened last year and excluding the word fuck. I expressed our dissatisfaction, how we were upset to learn about the prime rib, and how after informing us that there was no more prime rib after SPECIFICALLY requesting it that our table should have been our waitresses and the kitchens top priority. Like, if you have to mess up on an order don't let it be our table. The owner had come to our table BEFORE our meals arrived. It should have been a clue to step up your game. His response floored me, "But its a Saturday night and we are busy." It was my turn to look at HIM as if he had 4 heads. I responded, "Yeah Saturday happens once a week. You should be used to it by now." He said he had a big group come in and they ordered a lot of prime rib and yadda yadda. I explained that we were also a group, a group of 6. If your restaurant consistently runs out of a specific cut of meat every Saturday do you not decide as management to inform the owner that there is always a shortage and maybe just maybe you should order more of that particular cut? He had no response.

He apologized and offered us a 50$ gift certificate per couple and explained that our coffee and dessert were complimentary.  As soon as he leaves the owner comes back and speaks to us to find out what went wrong and explain that every Saturday they cook 4 prime ribs. Some weeks they run out, some weeks they throw them away. Uh, cook 5. But you know what. He's smart. Their entire staff is probably trained to always answer "Yes we do have prime rib". Take the order. How many people per party will order the prime rib? It's not always 100%. Ours was 50-50. By the time you are informed of their shortage you have already had a drink and started your appetizers. How many people are going to get up and leave versus staying? 2-98%? He knows he isn't going to lose the customer the majority of the time so why buy more meat that you'll throw away? He's basically converting those lost prime rib sales into other meals that would have been thrown out at the end of the night. Fuckin smart thinking man!

So my husband and the owner are now talking. George explains to him what happened last year and the owner looks embarrassed. He's heard this story before. The accountant that my husband uses for his company is the same one that this guy uses. After our last dining experience my husband just mentioned it in passing to his accountant. The accountant called the owner (while in front of my husband) and the owner was like, "oh my god. I'm so sorry. Tell them to come back and I'll make sure to take care of everything." We never went back because we aren't all about getting free food. We just want good service.
We order our coffee, we eat our desserts. We get our bills. I laughed. Once again, our drinks were NOT comped. I told my husband I was going to say something and he was like "you are going to complain about 15$." Yes because its times 3 couples therefore its 45$ and they said they would be comped. Everything has been shitty from the start of the night! He wouldn't let me complain. He pointed out that we did get a 50$ gift certificate per couple, we did get our coffees and desserts comped and to just leave it be.

The owner also told us next time we come to ask for him personally and he'll take good care of us. They also comped my sister's raw filet mignon.  I told the owner that I personally will not come back on a Saturday night. I've never had any problems going on a Tuesday night and I would do my best to convince the rest of the group to try it again on a random week night.

Overall here is my opinion on the food that was edible:

Grilled Octopus - Tasted great but they should have used red onion not white to garnish the dish. Not a big enough serving of it to charge $14

Fried Calmari - It was okay. Nothing to write home about.

Grilled Merguez Sausage - Not my cup of tea.

Greek Salad - Very good. They don't use the cheap feta, its actually REAL feta. Still not enough of a portion to charge $15 for.

House Salad - Whatever. It's a house salad. You can't really screw that up.

Chilean Sea Bass - It was good. Not the best I've ever had and not the worst either. It was good but seriously for $33 I would expect more than a 4 to 6 oz cut of fish. Seriously. I would rather make it at home for that size.

Veal Chop  with Port Reduction Sauce - AMAZING. No complaints from me or my hubs.

Grilled Chicken Breast - Birthday boy was impressed. Said it was very good.

Filet Mignon (cooked properly) - Very good. It's their second specialty dish