Seared
Not sure there’s enough room here for all that was “wrong” with this place. Originally it was the old Spanish Tavern which has been gone for years. After that it was Hunter’s Pub (obviously not terribly impressive since it wasn’t open long), then Bella Moon (also not worth mentioning) and after being closed for a while, it is trying to reinvent itself as Seared (the “Sea” for seafood, and the “Red” for steak). It will need more than a catchy name not to go the way of it’s doomed predecessors. The best thing about it was the atmosphere and decor (and even that wasn’t really over-the-top), but it takes more than that to have a good dining experience. The hostess was pleasant enough (just barely), but for the next hour that was the end of “pleasant”. Our server was rude, rushed and just seemed to have a generally bad attitude (her demeanor and personality would be more suited for a Waffle House or Denny’s – that’s not to say that THEY all have bad attitudes, but she was definitely not cut out for a what was supposed to be a “fine dining” establishment). She announced matter-of-factly that they were out of romaine lettuce and the soup of the day. When we asked howm, at 6pm on a Tuesday, that could possibly be (and we started out very nice) she made some ridiculous excuse about them not having a freezer (it’s a RESTAURANT – how could they NOT have a freezer) and that they had a busy weekend. Hmmm – they’ve been open for six months so you’d think they’d have learned to plan a little better by now. The menu was somewhat small and definitely not low budget. Lobster bisque and spinach salad were good – by far not the best, but ok. We had to ASK for bread and then she seemed put out and only brought 3 small pieces (I’ll never understand why an ODD number of pieces of bread or rolls are brought when there is an EVEN number of guests at the table). We never were offered water and had to ask for that as well. The ONLY bright spot in this experience was that after she announced to us (after a full hour) that “they were having some problems with our meals”, the Manager was the one that delivered them. His stuffed shrimp was OK, but my steamed mussels were downright nasty! I didn’t expect them to be as outstanding as the ones at Carabbas, but at least edible…. they weren’t, and although I’m a pretty adventurous eater, I just couldn’t, so I didn’t! When the manager, who was both professional and very nice, came back to check on us, I gave him back the mussels and explained that I simply couldn’t eat them. More apologies, he brought 2 more beers, chatted for a while, and ended up comping the entire check, as well as offering dessert (which we declined). If he can make some major changes to the servers and get things a little more organized, this place MAY make it…. but we’re not going back to find out!