foodie finds :: hell's kitchen

hell's kitchen
679 9th avenue
new york, ny 1003

i'm torn. based on last night and last night alone - 4 stars is a stretch. it should be getting 3 in my opinion but i'll give it 4 by reputation. i'll break it down:

1. service: this is a key thing for a great dining experience. we arrive - hostess says 45 minutes for a table. my friend said 'totally worth the wait' - so we did - and popped over to another place for a drink while we waited it out. when we arrive back on the scene - hostess informs us that we are indeed the next to be seated and that they were cleaning off the table (as she points to it) and we'd be sitting shortly. we cried an internal 'yay!' at this news - and then - the hostess sat other people at that table - um, what? her response: 'oops, i'm sorry. you are totally next.' we grab seats a the bar - order drinks (as the bartender spills an entire pint glass of ice on me - i get another 'oops, sorry' from him - thank god it was just ice - that could have been messy) - 15 minutes later (on top of the hour we've already been waiting) - we finally sit. mind you - i would have left an hour and 15 minutes ago but my friend insisted we stick it out.

then - our waiter came. to call him a dumb-ass would be nice. this guy's head was anywhere but in the game on this night. slow - inattentive - forgetful - not good qualities to have in this job (or in any job really). my friend - still sticking to his guns - insists 'it's all worth it.'

2. food: i love's me some mexican food - so internally i was very excited. externally i was still a little miffed by the wait and the experience thus-far.

appetizers included duck confit empanadas with pineapple mole sauce, chorizo sopas, and seared tuna medallions with a chunky mango salsa. everything had heat, sweet, texture, and great flavor combinations and compliments. my personal favorite was the tuna but the empanadas were a close second - but all of them i could eat again.

for mains we sampled the halibut with yucca cakes, sweet plantain mash, and salsa verde; sea bass (it escapes my mind what it was covered with - let's just call it 'goodness') so that's sea bass covered in goodness; and a chicken quesadilla. again - very impressed with the flavor profiles and interesting combinations of sweet, savory, and heat. the sea bass was cooked perfectly while the 2 of us that got halibut had issues that it was overcooked and a bit dry (but the yucca cakes and sweet mash with the salsa - so good). the quesadilla was declared 'the best i've ever eaten' by my other friend - it was indeed tasty.

we passed on dessert as it was rounding 11:00. keep in mind - we started this dinner experience around 8:00. yes - that's right - 3 hours later we are paying. it took nearly 20 minutes to do that. evidently the hostess's birthday was going to require the entire staff to ignore the diners and serve cake and sing and all the things you'd expect for a birthday. while sweet for her - every single table in the place was left unattended to for another 15-20 minutes so they could have their party. my feelings is that it was so close to quitting time - the staff could have waited until after they had closed to do this. several tables were trying to flag down anyone to refill drinks - or in our case - just pay our check and go! the entire process to pay took just under a half an hour - um - is it hard to press print - i mean we were sitting right next to the computer?

maybe it was an off night. like i said - i would give them 3 stars (or less) from the service which spoiled my entire experience overall. but - the food did make up for a good deal of it (excluding the overcooked halibut). i live in the area so i'm sure i'll go back. maybe next time will be an 'on' night - and all will be right with the world.