Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton

Prior to going there last night, I couldn't really find any threads (other than a few mentions of their brunch) about the Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton. ... Granted, we went on amatuer night, so our experience might not be "the typical" for them...

They had a pri fixe menu with wine pairings for each course... It was $190pp, 150 without wine pairings. I assume they had their regular menu as well, but this didn't seem to pop up as a choice.

The first wine pairing was a pour 98 Dom (actually, they gave us two very full glasses of it...) and a champagne bathed Oyster. There are very few things I won't eat, Oysters for some reason is one of them... but I did, and it was good. Another course was an asparagus rissota, which was pretty good. For the main course there was a choice between filet and sole (which was served in filet). The guy behind us got the sole, and apparently didn't like it so he sent it back and got the filet instead. When the chef came around to talk to everyone at their table, they discussed what they didn't like about it for a good 15 minutes... Interestly, the waiter said he recommended the filet ... which really makes me wonder... If you have a choice between two entrees, and one of them isn't even recommended, what the hell are you doing?

Next there was a cheese course, which had some very good stuff.. and last there was a dessert course (and actually after another smaller plate of chocolates..) which was a frozen cake. That was served with Jackson Triggs cab franc icewine and then another dessert wine of some sort...

The food was above average, but not the best i've had in my life. The service wasn't bad, but didn't jump out as being spectactular. The guy who brought the food out explained what every dish was to my partner as he handed it to him, but not really loud enough so I could never really hear him. I'd be curious to know what the service is like on a "regular" night. There was way way too much wine served, so much so that we couldn't finish off with coffee and relax, as we had to dart out in fear of being sick.

The crowd was interesting... it was a good mix of people who looked like old money, grey hair "regulars" and then people who looked like they don't get out to fancy places too much. And I swear one table had a guy that looked just like Ted Koppel, and his wife looked like a drag queen version of Farrah Fawcett.

dddane wrote: And I swear one table had a guy that looked just like Ted Koppel, and his wife looked like a drag queen version of Farrah Fawcett.

Food and wine aside, it sounds like you got your money's worth.