Has anyone tried Cotes du Rhone on Broadway and Catalpa yet? I know it's early but the place is practically around the corner from me and I'm curious to see if anyone's had a chance to try it yet.
Thanks
psegall
Feb 16, 2007 01:56PM
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No, but I'm thinking about going for a family dinner soon. Please let me know if you have been and what you thought. (My group is going to be 7 people.)
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I have reservations for this Friday, 3/2. I'll let you know!
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Yes -- they've got a ton of kinks to work out. For instance, we had a reservation and weren't seated for TWO hours! We gave them a break b/c they're new and we all live in EdgeH20 so we're pulling for them. I will say the food was very good and I will definitely go back -- I feel certain they'll pull it together.
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Yes, we went right after it opened. Because it was just open there were no specials, but the food was good. I like Matou or Bouchon better, but if I lived nearer to this place would probably go regularly (that it is BYO is a real plus). We were seated promptly, didn't have major service glitches, and found everyone pleasant. Hope they do well!
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Major kinks to work out! Waited two hours for a table w/ reservations, only to find they had three empty four tops but couldn't figure out how to seat the party of 6 at them who was in line before us so they made us all wait until a 6 top became available. Yikes! My pate was so incredible that it could have only been down hill from there and it was. Entrees were good not great and dessert was terrible - burnt carmel sauce and soggy bread pudding. Hope they figure it out because I like how unpretentious the whole place is!
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Went last night and had a so-so meal. We were the only ones there at 6:30, but by the time we left at 8:15 or so, the place was hopping. The scoop:
Service: Friendly, but pretty inattentive. Plates sat empty for 5-10 minutes before being picked up, drink refills were few and far between, and our server was hard to track down. Long waits between courses, even when the restaurant was empty.
Food: Decent. Escargot was sufficiently hot (though not mouth-searingly, bubbly-hot, as I'm used to seeing it), but needed more garlic--all I could taste was butter. Portabello salad was fine. My salmon with lentils and curry sauce was very tasty, though it arrived absolutely white-hot at the table, presumably from sitting under a heat lamp while my pal's steak was cooking. His steak au poivre? Again, not bad, with tasty mashed potatoes. Dessert was, as 7up noted, terrible: avoid the burnt-tasting chocolate bread pudding at all costs.
Overall? I'd give it a generous 6. Pleasant atmosphere and BYOB is always great, but worth $75 with tip for two people? Hardly. For a much better restaurant in the neighborhood, go to La Fonda.
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Apparently kinks have been worked out. I was there last night with a group of twenty. With a group that size, the occasional delay is only to be expected, but overall the service was prompt, friendly and attentive.
I was debating between a couple of entrées, and asked the waitress her opinion. She did NOT steer me to the more expensive of the two, and the dish she did recommend, the duck breast, was perfectly done and well-flavored. I'd definitely recommend it.
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See Penny Pollacy at Chicago Magazine in this week;s dining. She just gouged it.
When the spongy, off-putting skate began to skeeze out Pollack at Côtes du Rhône (5424 N. Broadway; 773-293-2683), she told her waiter. “Does it taste like ammonia?” he asked, and while Pollack was gagging at the very question, he whisked it away. The steak au poivre he replaced it with wasn’t much better—but then again, it didn’t taste like something we keep in the garage.
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We went last night and I agree there are serious bugs. For one thing, there's a lack of attention to the front of the house. We were seated near the door and as things got busy, a big party gathered to wait for their table which spilled over into the dining area. Why not remove the two tables near the window and create a decent sized gathering area? Also, the kitchen staff was hauling in supplies like boxes of produce at 7pm, through the dining area, which struck me as very unprofessional for a restaurant in that price range. The door could also use some hardware to help it close more softly, the constant slamming got on my nerves...
We liked the menu but thought it could use editing- there are like 10 entrees, and they had four specials on top of that... less can be more. I had the spinach salad, and the lardon was really delicious, good ingredients. Then had the bouillabase which was WAY oversalted, almost inedible, though the seafood itself was of good quality and plentiful. My husband had the sea bass and escargot appetizer, and liked them but felt they both had too much garlic. For dessert, a comped creme brule (we complained about the oversaltiness) which was good except that the top was burnt and the custard liquid from too hasty execution.
This neighborhood needs a good quality bistro, I do hope they address their shortcomings...
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