Delmonico for dinner tonight.....

Yeah that's the one.

We ate there a few weeks ago. Hadn't been in a while, but recalled we all really enjoyed our previous meals. Overall, it wasn't as good as we remembered possibly because the offerings were different. I really enjoy the atmosphere in that front room. It was raining a bit the night we were there. Made for a nice view. We had some strange service issues, as well.

We ordered crawfish beignets from the bar snack menu to have with our drinks before we placed our order for the night. I've done that before, but this time the waiter had to check to see if we were allowed to do that which seemed strange. There was a drink special on the specials insert in the menu, but they were out of it, though the one the waiter suggested instead was very good. It was called snoball or something like that made with gin. Refreshing.

I had the crabmeat remick which was good, but not great. I expected more flavor I think, having looked a the recipe recently. Others had a wedge which was good, the bbq shrimp which is always good and a shrimp and mirliton bisque which was very tasty. It was a special, I believe. I strongly suggest considering the specials.

I had the drum meuniere which is topped with crabmeat, tomatoes, arugula and artichokes. It was good. I thought I'd had it before and enjoyed it more, but it may have been a similar dish. Others had the filet and the veal bordelaise which was deemed very good. The 4th diner had apps for entrees which were the remick and a baked oyster special with andouille and I've forgotten what else. She thought it was all okay.

Delmonico is very formal about course delivery. Multiple waiters come and place the plates in front of the diners all at once, which is very nice. I could see the staircase in the foyer from my seat and watched them bring the trays from the kitchen. A manager type person would check the ticket and the tray before the food came out.

They first brought us 4 plates of steaks for our entrees. They were lovely steaks if you're in the mood for steak tonight, but not what we ordered. No big deal. We simply told them these were not our orders. The waiters picked up the plates and moved them around to different diners at our table. Again, we told them we had not ordered any of the various steaks. They looked totally befuddled. It was comical in way. They picked them up, saying nothing, and walked off.

A while later our entrees arrived and they were ceremoniously delivered. There was a set up of 3 sauces given to the diner who ordered the oysters and she was told those when with her oysters. Turned out, after the fact, we found out those went with the filet. Not really a big deal. However, after the entrees were delivered, the two apps the 4th diner ordered were not delivered. Not a word was said by the main waiter or any other waiter. We assumed they went back to get them. Some time passed while we waited to start eating and finally, a manager type came by and asked how our meals were. We said we didn't know since we hadn't started eating yet because diner 4 still didn't have her food. He said nothing at all, but turned around and left. We eventually started eating and our waiter appeared to explain that the oysters were overcooked and they were remaking that dish. The diner asked that they bring out the remick dish so she could start eating while waiting on the oysters. Again, nothing was said. The waiter just turned around and walked off. It was so strange. More time went by and the rest of us were getting close to finishing when the two apps arrived. We weren't in a rush, so it wasn't too big a deal except that she was eating by herself part of the time. She didn't love the dishes, though.

Not a single time did anyone apologize in any way. Not a word from a waiter or a manager. That's what was strange about the whole thing and especially in a restaurant of this caliber. It wasn't about the errors. They were annoying, but as I said, we weren't in a rush and we weren't really too bothered. No apology or acknowledgement, though, really stuck out to all of us.

I wrote to the restaurant and got a response from the manager, who in a followup email, admitted he was there that night. He basically threw the staff under the bus initially. Let's just say I wasn't too impressed with his response. He did say he addressed it with the staff, but I'm pretty sure he was the one checking orders when they came out and he was likely the person who came to the table to ask how the food was. The mess ups were really not a big deal. The handling of them was disappointing. An apology at the time would have cleaned the slate and we likely would have thought nothing more about it. I'm assuming it was all some kind of fluke.