Now for that long awaited review of Brown Girl Economics' experience at Smith and Webster's Restaurant and Bar.
We did not rush to attend during the grand opening or immediately following because we wanted to give the restaurant owners time to work out all the kinks. Having been a restaurant owner myself, I know this is a very challenging entrepreneurial venture. It's very hard work and you must watch the front door(customers) the middle door (cash register), and the back door (deliveries) because in this business, the margins are small and waste in any area must be guarded and reduced.
We decided to do dinner on a Sunday evening and made reservations for 5 PM. We arrived at about 4:45 PM, stood outside until the door was opened right at 5 PM. We were greeted by the maître d' with smiles as he checked our reservations and escorted us to the bar to wait for our table. The decor was done in very good taste, with what appeared to be a very nice fabric selection covering the chairs. I was surprised there were no table cloths on the tables, but overall the interior decor was posh. I made a quick run to the ladies room, passing through a coed waiting area of walls covered in plastic greenery. I found the bathroom decor very nicely done as well. Unfortunately, there was no hand soap for washing and sterilizing hands before eating. (This of course was immediately corrected upon notifying the maître d') Upon my return to the bar, a few of my members were a little disgruntled with the price of a glass of Sangria which was $15. It wasn't long before we were escorted to our table and given instructions on how to access the menu.
I was excited because this was a long awaited experience I was eager to have, with all of the raving reviews I heard from different individuals having dined at Smith and Websters. The ambiance was chic, with dim lighting, but the music was a little loud and the genre of music was not family dining appropriate. We began ordering and the waitress was polite and gracious. Once we completed our order, we were told we had a 90 minute time limit at the table from the reservation time😱. Now this is a trend most fine dinning restaurants are implementing in order to turn over tables in a timely manner. I've never personally experience a 90 minute limit. I have, however experienced 120 minute limit from the time of placing your order. Anyhoot! This is where the experience took a dive. I ordered the $28 lump crab cake. When it came it was approximately a 2 inch thick medallion size crab cake with fillers and very little crab. I also ordered the $45 Oxtail Lasagna. It was over cooked. The cheese was so hard, you needed a knife to cut it. It wasn't fit for human consumption in my opinion. I am not a fan of the collaboration of flavors and spices in this dish. Another individual ordered the shrimp fried rice and it was so bad, the maître d' agreed to remove it from the tab. Across the table of 10 individuals, there were complaints about the quality of the food. I had a brief conversation with the owner and he agreed to send the Chef to the table. He had a brief conversation with the Chef and the maître d' in the kitchen and it appears as though the conclusion was to send the maître d' back to our table again. He was very attentive to our concerns and apologized for the experience. All in all it was very disappointing or just maybe my expectations were too high. I made this review available to the owner before posting and he ignored it.
