i walked by sweets and savories a few minutes ago, and there were customers in there eating. justjoan

We just had dinner with some friends who had brunch at S&S two weeks ago. According to them the place had gone to hell in a handbasket. The oatmeal was extremely watery, the lobster risotto tasted like it had been sitting out for half an hour and the lobster pieces were dry. They said the service and food were so embarrassing that they pulled the server aside to tell him how bad their experience was. The server offered to not charge them for two entrees and said part of the staff hadn't showed up that day (I recall a similar report on the last days at Mado before it closed). Afterward, they said they could hear the host on the phone refusing reservation requests by saying the restaurant was full, when in fact it was half empty. Apparently he even told a 20-person bridal party he had to cancel their reservation.

I received this e-mail today:

Thanks for purchasing the Groupon for Sweets and Savories.

There has recently been some confusion as to whether or not this business is still operating. We’re happy to let you know that we’ve confirmed that Sweets and Savories is open for business and accepting Groupons! They are open Tuesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for dinner and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for brunch.

We’re sorry for any confusion. Please reach out to us at support@groupon.com if you have any questions or concerns. Enjoy your Groupon!

Strange.

It's really strange, because their website is now gone and they're no longer on OpenTable. If you don't know they're there, you'll never find them.

I was disturbed when I got the Groupon email this morning.

WTW?

It's really strange, because their website is now gone

. . .the website is still there, sort of - but it's totally inaccessible, and is serving as nothing more than a vehicle deal-of-the-day sites. Even the phone number listed is screwy - it has a 347 area code.

Wonder what David Richards's explanation is? He always seems to have one at the ready for any occasion, even if they seldom make sense. . .

sundevilpeg wrote:

It's really strange, because their website is now gone

. . .the website is still there, sort of - but it's totally inaccessible, and is serving as nothing more than a vehicle deal-of-the-day sites. Even the phone number listed is screwy - it has a 347 area code.

Wonder what David Richards's explanation is? He always seems to have one at the ready for any occasion, even if they seldom make sense. . .

It's actually one of those advertising sites, like "this address is for sale". The S&S site is gone.

Sweets and Savories' prix fixe brunch for 2 is the deal of the day on LivingSocial.

http://livingsocial.com/deals/27665-byo ... two-people


Is this safe to buy with everything going on? Worth it?

ziggy wrote:Sweets and Savories' prix fixe brunch for 2 is the deal of the day on LivingSocial.

http://livingsocial.com/deals/27665-byo ... two-people


Is this safe to buy with everything going on? Worth it?

I've been disappointed with the brunch the last couple of times I've been there. The timing of the food coming out was shakey and the quality was a bit off. I think they do a much better dinner service.

At least we now have a current website address for Sweets & Savories - and it's 100% music-free!

From the website it seems their prices for the prix fixe have increased to $16 for brunch and $36 for dinner. Figure it had to happen eventually.

My husband and I ate at S & S last night. Given the tone of the conversation in this thread, I thought we should probably go ahead and use it and I'm glad we did. I'm sad to say that the tone of the place had all the hallmarks of a restaurant in death throes: few servers, few patrons, and lots of side conversations and knowing glances between the waitstaff. Our food was serviceable; I stuck with the Steak Frites, thinking it was best to stay with a safe option. it was flavorful but cooked well past the medium I requested. My husband enjoyed his scallops, but the pear tart that he ordered for dessert was cold enough to have come straight from the refrigerator.
I'd be sad to see this place go as it's a good BYO option in our neighborhood, but unless something changes I don't see it surviving much longer.

bfolds wrote:My husband and I ate at S & S last night. Given the tone of the conversation in this thread, I thought we should probably go ahead and use it and I'm glad we did. I'm sad to say that the tone of the place had all the hallmarks of a restaurant in death throes: few servers, few patrons, and lots of side conversations and knowing glances between the waitstaff. Our food was serviceable; I stuck with the Steak Frites, thinking it was best to stay with a safe option. it was flavorful but cooked well past the medium I requested. My husband enjoyed his scallops, but the pear tart that he ordered for dessert was cold enough to have come straight from the refrigerator.
I'd be sad to see this place go as it's a good BYO option in our neighborhood, but unless something changes I don't see it surviving much longer.

I really hope they get it together. I don't know another place, City-wide, like Sweets & Savories. It's one of my favorites & we don't drink alcohol.

bfolds wrote:I'm sad to say that the tone of the place had all the hallmarks of a restaurant in death throes: few servers, few patrons, and lots of side conversations and knowing glances between the waitstaff.

I haven't been there in a couple of years, but isn't that the normal state of affairs at S&S?

My wife and I have long been fans of Sweets and Savories. We've taken many out-of-town guests there, including a couple larger groups. Sweets has always impressed with their warm service and excellent value. Also, while I'm sure David Richards has earned much of the bad ink spilled about him, in our experiences he has always been gracious and generous, comping us a plate or a dessert on a number of occasions. So I take no joy in writing about how far they've fallen.

We made it out to Sweets last Friday night. The dining room was half full so the servers were particularly attentive. The prices have increased, but I always felt that the value was so good that we weren't deterred by the increase to 36 dollars for three courses.

To start off we ordered the mussel appetizer, the pea and mushroom risotto, and the polenta gnocchi (I always sub an app for a dessert). The mussels were rubbery and their sauce tasted of uncooked wine, we could barely finish it. The risotto featured flavorless, clearly frozen peas, and a lifeless white sauce that drowned the risotto into a bland, mushy pile. The gnocchi had decent texture, but the butter sauce was unremarkable. Sadly, this mediocre offering was the highlight of the meal.

Then came the entrees. The butter-poached lobster risotto, something we've ordered at least 5 times before, had a fraction of the lobster we're used to and was identical in flavor and texture to the risotto we had as an appetizer. My wife was visibly shocked by how much worse the lobster risotto was than before. The pork tenderloin was served cold with a from-the-bottle quality, cloyingly sweet barbecue sauce and a dense, hard, corn cake that was cold like it came straight from the refrigerator. This one we couldn't finish.

When the waitress came to ask how the meal was, we could barely muster a kind response. We begrudgingly ordered the meyer lemon tart for dessert. It tasted like it was bought at the Jewel down the street.

I sincerely hope this doesn't mark the end for one of our favorite restaurants. Perhaps they've had some turnover in the kitchen after their hiatus in late January. Whatever the issue is, we won't be back unless we hear others have a much better experience than we did.

Posts in this thread list at least three possible websites for Sweets and Savories. But when you search on Google, the following is the one that comes up: http://sweetsandsavoriesrestaurant.com/ And that website is also one of the sites linked to in this thread.

Now I know there seems to be a better link just above this post, but what is up with the page I have linked to? It looks and reads like something out of the tv show Lost. I'm not sure if this is the restaurant's way of keeping patrons away, or someone's attempt to sabotage them, but it is seriously f'd up!

Anyone have intel on this?

Use this one:

http://www.sweetsandsavoriesonline.com/index.html

For those who appreciate their email being passed along, apparently being on the email list of Sweets and Savories several years ago now gets you on the email list for Bluette, another restaurant by the same owner.

I have a soon to expire Groupon from S&S. The current reviews are so bad I wonder if it's worth redeeming. Thoughts? (I held on to it so long thinking the place would close and I'd get my money back.)

Marija wrote:I have a soon to expire Groupon from S&S. The current reviews are so bad I wonder if it's worth redeeming. Thoughts? (I held on to it so long thinking the place would close and I'd get my money back.)

Wondering the same exact thing. I suppose if we used it, and it was completely awful, we could request a refund anyway, no?

I'm not sure Groupon would give you a refund for something you've already used, but they are very good about refunds for pretty much any other reason.

jesteinf wrote:I'm not sure Groupon would give you a refund for something you've already used, but they are very good about refunds for pretty much any other reason.

Agreed. You might try Groupon ahead of time to see if they'll make the refund because of the poor reviews, but I suspect that will be a stretch. I'm sure they won't give you a refund after the fact just because it wasn't a good experience.

Actually, Groupon is very good about giving refunds for dissatisfaction with the experience. I wrote in to let them know about some issues with a spa certificate that I purchased and used--I wasn't asking for any reparations--I just wanted them to know that the place sucked--and they immediately credited me for the entire amount, no questions asked. I would email them and tell them your concern and I'm guessing that they'll comp you the amount of the Groupon for a future Groupon purchase (I remember they did that one other time when, due to some change in a place or term of the coupon, I wasn't as jazzed about using it--again, no questions asked.)

We had a great meal in December & we will redeem ours. In a couple of weeks.

boudreaulicious wrote:Actually, Groupon is very good about giving refunds for dissatisfaction with the experience. I wrote in to let them know about some issues with a spa certificate that I purchased and used--I wasn't asking for any reparations--I just wanted them to know that the place sucked--and they immediately credited me for the entire amount, no questions asked. I would email them and tell them your concern and I'm guessing that they'll comp you the amount of the Groupon for a future Groupon purchase (I remember they did that one other time when, due to some change in a place or term of the coupon, I wasn't as jazzed about using it--again, no questions asked.)

That's great to know! Thanks for the info.

Resolved. E-mailed Groupon with my concern about Sweets and Savories. Got a response in less than an hour and $20 of credit on my account. Thanks for the good advice.

Are they still open? I left a message yesterday about a reservation for Friday and no-one called me back. The message was a bit out of date (info about Dads dining free on Father's Day). I tried calling back just not (2pm) and their machine is now full.

Tobermory wrote:Are they still open? I left a message yesterday about a reservation for Friday and no-one called me back. The message was a bit out of date (info about Dads dining free on Father's Day). I tried calling back just not (2pm) and their machine is now full.

Yep. Just changed my reservation.

Tobermory wrote:Are they still open? I left a message yesterday about a reservation for Friday and no-one called me back. The message was a bit out of date (info about Dads dining free on Father's Day). I tried calling back just not (2pm) and their machine is now full.

Good riddance if they are...surliest meal I've ever had.

kj8181 wrote:

Tobermory wrote:Are they still open? I left a message yesterday about a reservation for Friday and no-one called me back. The message was a bit out of date (info about Dads dining free on Father's Day). I tried calling back just not (2pm) and their machine is now full.

Good riddance if they are...surliest meal I've ever had.

Pretty interesting introductory post. Would you like to elaborate, or is this just a drive-by flaming?