Friday, July 03, 2009

Highs, lows, and Noble Rot

There's a difference between a full "review" of a restaurant and a lot of what I report. Most of my commentary of my all too frequent eating adventures are more in the "slice of life" category. Kind of a review of one evening. I have to say in my experience I think one evening at a restaurant can tell you a lot about what future visits might hold for you. Last night we made our first visit to the new Noble Rocket...oops, I meant Noble Rot that inhabits the old Rocket space on East Burnside. My first impression, whether it was Rocket or Rot, is that I really love this space. The unique view view of the west hills, unfortunately marred by the giant billboard on top of the Hippo Hardware building across the street (and no blame to Rot for that. Last night's giant Egg McMuffin right in our face was quite comically surreal), and the light that pours into the space gives it a sleek, elegant feel. The spacious booths are comfy, and the bar is a great spot to sit and take in the view...although an inconsistent place to drink.

We were going with our friends J&K, and I called ahead to find out if they took reservations. As expected the answer was no unless we were a party of six, which I have no problem with. The girl who answered informed me I could come in and get on the list and the wait probably wouldn't be too long. I in turn asked if I could call and get my name on the list, which is a system that seems to work really well for Three Doors Down. I mean if someone calls with their name and no shows, how hard is it to go to the next name on the list (from the restaurants perspective, they want you there and drinking while you wait for your table). I was curtly told no, you have to sign up in person, and when I said no problem, I'd be there, I got a somewhat condescending "yippee" in response. Gee, thanks for your professionalism.

w and I got there early, put our names down and sat at the bar to wait. I ordered the Dark and Stormy off the cocktail list, a Tiki classic. w, who was laying off the hooch this night asked for a non-alcoholic...and I hate to use this term..."mocktail" (btw- she had an amazing one at Beaker and Flask...of course). My D&S, which is basically rum & ginger beer, was, and I can't believe I'm complaining about this, way to rummy, the balance was way off, the booze obliterating the ginger beer. w's strawberry daquiri-like drink was way too sweet, so much so she took about 2 sips and left it. A drink in dire need of citrus. Our friends arrived and we were promptly led to a booth along the windows. They had just navigated the B&T crowd that prowls the 1st Thursday art scene in the "Pearl" like black-clad, hip-urban wannabes and were in desperate need of refreshment. Sadly our server, who spent the entire evening seemingly uninterested in her job and should have had "whatever" printed on the front of her shirt, was in no hurry to gather our order. When she did show up after ten minutes they ordered margaritas, and I had a Hendrick's gimlet (one of my bar competency tests). This time all the drinks were excellent, the margs letting the smoky tequila seep through, and the gimlet just a notch below mine and the Café Castagna version. We snacked on two of their signature apps, an onion tart (right) and the onion rings. The tart was too mushy, the flavors mish-mashing together, which was too bad as the crust was perfect. The onion rings on the other hand, were the best I've had in town, lightly battered, beautifully golden, with some bite left in the onion itself.

Our entrées off the limited menu (and that's not a rap; I actually like a menu that doesn't need to be everything to everyone) were next, and they showed the same inconsistency as our drinks and apps. K had the rib eye (left), which was easily the best thing on the table. Tender, perfectly medium-rare and topped with a rich shallot butter. The fries were credible if unremarkable, but the arugula salad was too stemmy, as if the prep person was in a hurry to get through his admittedly mind-numbing task. J had the pasta special (below right), which had ham, carrots, and radishes in a light lemon-cream sauce. This dish just missed, the individual ingredients fresh and flavorful (or they could have been), but over-whelmed by the too lemony sauce. For her plate w ordered the ham and cheddar panino with a mango marmalade and that was actually quite good with a generous side salad for $9. Then we came to my plate of food, which of course I had high hopes for: "Grilled pork shoulder, rice & lentil croquettes; green bean, rhubarb & red mustard salad" (below pic). Sounded so good, and the salad part was. But I didn't order it for the salad, I was in it for some pig, and that fell so far short. It was sliced pork shoulder, tender but overcooked (as were the too-crusty croquettes), with an insipid pan sauce that shredded the page out of the book that said "food should never be boring". This was the Guy Lombardo of entrées. Another of my pet peeves when I eat out is that when a server sees my empty plate, please come and pick it up. Nothing is worse than having an empty, dirty plate sitting in front of me. Our server made eye contact with me when I had finished, looked down at our table, and walked right by. Again, at least show some interest and professionalism, if it's not too much trouble.
Which just drove home my whole impression of our evening, and what I came away with was a feeling of a place that is still struggling to find itself and some consistency. The food prices are in the high-moderate range (BTW- the wine list does offer numerous values and is one of the more well-priced, interesting lists I've seen lately), and as with every restaurant consistency, in both service (and I don't mean consistently bad service) and food is paramount. Especially when a place is working with a limited number of menu items, there is no excuse for anything to be less than excellent. I was surprised, because I had heard from several people that after a rocky start things were turning around. With so many good options out there in our local dining scene, places that always seem to nail it time after time, dish after dish, inconsistency isn't to rewarded.
*** *** *** *** ***
After this experience we all headed down the street to Beaker and Flask to rehash and regroup, and once again Kevin, Tim, and the VERY professional and nice servers were spot on. This is exactly the kind of place I'll be rewarding again and again!

Noble Rot on Urbanspoon

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been to Noble Rocket 3 times: in a trio, foursome, and duo, and each time the food was good to great, same as the service, not even remotely as apathetic as you experienced. By contrast, drinks took forever to arrive at B&F, and service was rather slow. Both places are eminently worthy of hangtime, imho.

LadyConcierge said...

That's funny about the empty plate thing. Most servers are taught that they should never remove a plate until all the table is finished. I hate it when I finish first and my plate is taken away while others are still eating; I feel like I ate too fast or something. Then again, your server sounds like one who didn't care about propriety in any case.

I'm not really rushing to get to Rocket. Beaker & Flask is another story.

bb said...

Anon...Wow...i wish we had that experience, I truly do. I wopuld love to rave about every place I go. maybe I'll go with you next time! Agree with the B&F drinks, but always keep in mind those are made to order and not shot of this, shot of that, slam it out. It's the fine dining of bartending, where things take a little longer but they are worth the wait.

LC...I've had 2 restaurants, and I always told out staff to clear away plates. In my opinion a dirty plate on a table looks much worse than leaving it there. Would love to know what others think. As a customer I would much rather not look at an old plate than worry if I eat to fast...which I don't...I hope! And the whole look at the table, where obviously some form of service is needed, then walk away is ridiculous.
And B&F is absolutely rush worthy!!

Anonymous said...

I agree, I hate it when only a portion of the plates are taken from the table before everyone is finished. But it seems as though people are also offended by empty plates being left, I think servers can't win on that one...

bb said...

anon....But if they took all the plates away before everyone was finished, then those who weren't finished would be really pissed......oh, wait, that's not what you meant.....

It IS kind of a conundrum due to different customer preferences, and you're right, servers can't please everyone on this.

Anonymous said...

I liked their old place and other than the setting see nothing to draw me into their new space. I am so in agreement on snappy service and professionalism having a son who is a cook and talks all the time about various restaurants and their lack of professionalism, although being in the service industry he cuts them more slack than I do. Especially when it comes to waiting for a table or service (I am very impatient and quickly get grouchy and let it ruin the whole experience if ignored or forced to wait excessively long). I so appreciated your review and wholeheartedly agree. I am tired of certain always positive reviews and asked my son once, "do they starve the reviewers in this town." His response was interesting, he said only in restaurant reviews do newspapers etc send anyone (not with culinary background or any real expertise) who can write. You don't send a non architect to review the design of a new building nor a non lawyer to write a legal piece. Over time I have just learned who to trust or that has similiar tastes to mine. Similiar to wine reviewers if are tastes are close I will generally try recommendations, but not a fan of just because something got a 91 in Wine Spectator that I need to buy it.

Anonymous said...

Wow - I've been here several times and I've never, ever had bad food or bad service. Sorry to read this.