The Tasting Room
Tips for The Tasting Room
Average... Great ambiance. Overly hyped, in my opinion. The course-settings and platings were too convoluted and the food was okay, not as innovative as I'd expected. Service was a bit too fussy for my taste and not as knowledgable as I'd hoped for.
Spotty service, long waits for food- a failed transition to its new setting. The Tasting Room has not made a successful transition to its bigger setting, which is a shame. The new(ish) place has unfortunately spotty service and inexplicably long waits for food with no apologies offered, even from the manager when called over. When it arrives, the food is decent but not spectacular, and while the wine offerings are interesting, there's nothing here that you couldn't find in any NoHo eaterie. Those remembering the charming and special former incarnation will be disappointed.
Underwhelming.... I have wanted to go to this restaurant for a while and when my friend's birthday came around I thought it would be a great opportunity to check it out. Unfortunately, the experience was pretty underwhelming. The starters we had were reasonable, but the entrees definitely left something to be desired. My friend (whose birthday it was) had to send back her fish b/c it was undercooked (gasp!) and the other entree she chose instead wasn't much better for her. My fish was ok. The flavor was pretty non-existent and the accompanying vegetables were just meh. My husband had pork rib that he was not into at all. The dessert (loved the beer ice cream that was the substitute ice cream flavor in the ice cream sandwich) and the cocktails (love the Southside) somewhat made up for it until we got the bill...Yowza! It came out to be about $120 each for 6 people (granted we treated our friend but still...)...um, for food that is really not that great I would say that's pretty darn steep. Overall I was pretty disappointed with the food. I really thought it would be great. The place has it goin' on with the decor and atmosphere but the food definitely leaves something to be desired. I will not return here for dinner nor would I recommend this place to a friend. Sorry Tasting Room...dems da brakes.
Unintimidating Exciting Food!. My friends and I went for brunch and then for dinner a few days later, to get the full experience. We were a bit wary as we love food but the reviews made it seem a bit intimidating. The fact that the menu changes daily just means that everything is super fresh, but the dishes, service, and decor have an extremely warm and friendly attitude. The owner Renee greeted us with smiles and answered all of our questions about the interesting and gorgeous artwork all over the restaurant! All in all, a lovely experience. The food was incredible and we will definitely be back. Treat yourself!!! You will be absolutely glad that you did.
delicious take on everything - foie gras is a must.
finally made it here after tracking its expansion from first and first location. everything was super tasty and very unique. great food with local ingredients and not the stuffy environs of blue hill. foie gras is unlike any other.
looks like they will stay here long term unlike all the other rests that have tried to make it in this awesome spot - this ne actually has the food and personality to stay in such a great place.
Below expectations.
For a $$$$ not recommendable. I went there with 2 friends and the "family style" serving leaves you with having to order several appetizers and main courses. Waaay to much meat on the menu, I am not a vegetarian but don't like 7 different kinds of meat at the same time. We had the pheasant, pork loin (more fat than meat), chicken and steak and there were nearly no sides with it. I would have wished for more veggie and noodle/rice choices on the menu to be able to vary a little more.
For dessert we had the Marshmallow beer-icecream cookie which was kind of strange...
Service was good though.
Excellent food. I went to the tasting room for the first time last Thursday and loved it. I had the pheasant breast and my friend had the duck breast and both were very good. The desserts were to die for, we had the chocolate pots du creme and the blueberry tart and were practically licking the plates clean (we restrained ourselves).
favorite meal this winter. I went to the Tasting Room this past Friday and had my favorite meal this winter. I was with some friends from France who wanted to go some where to see what this Haute-Barnyard thing was all about. There was alot of things on the menu that I couldn't translate, but the Manager could, so that helped. We ordered oysters, surf clams, duck rillettes and foie gras to start. Everything was very nice. The foie came with popcorn and my friends were quite dubious, but ate every bit and giggled while they did. Then we had Horse Mackerel, Hen of the Woods Mushrooms, Pheasant and Roast Pork. Everything was very well cooked and very tasty. My friends were very impressed. They even liked the all American cheese plate. Can't wait to go back.
Best Dinner Ever. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for making me look like an expert in front of my friends. Dinner was amazing. Really, I was totally blown away. More importantly, my friends were totally impressed and as it was my choice based on a recommendation from a friend...that made me look great! The manager/sommelier was super helpful with her suggestions on the wine list too (who knew they make such delicious sparkling wine in Oregon?). Our menu faves: Monkfish liver, Venison Neck, Fried Cod Milt, and Sablefish. I also had the best ice cream sandwich. They make the ice cream with Beer! Not kidding. I love this place. The only problem is that I'll have to keep coming back because the menu changes every day. I'm going to try brunch next. It sounds great.
Never again.. Veryyyyyy disappointing dining experience. Bizarre wine policy (server opens the bottle away from customer and pours a glass for themselves to try/taste, to make sure the bottle is good.) This is not right, not to mention they pour enough of a taste for themselves as well as other, fellow servers. So essentially, the customer is paying to educate the servers on the restaurants extensive wine list. Correct me if I'm wrong but if you're spending $44 (their cheapest bottle) or $3,460 (their most expensive) shouldn't the customer be trying the bottle?? If the bottle is bad, then by all means the server should pour themselves a glass to try it. When this policy was questioned to management, we were told it was to protect the customer from trying a bad bottle. Please. What's more, the food was bland and luke warm at best. Never, ever, ever again.
The Tasting Room
Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Facebook to see what your friends are up to!
Get the Citysearch Mobile app so you can spend less time searching for great places, and more time enjoying them.