La Voute definitely pays homage to the bank roots in the decor department (there is a giant bank vault door that serves an an entrance to the kitchen).
Decor: excellent. La Voute seems like a perfect place to have a fancy meal, a girls' night out or to just have a couple drinks at the bar. Dark wood tables and chairs, servers in black chef coats, dim lighting. The atmosphere was one of elegance and decadence.
Food appearance: poor. This is where I believe La Voute faulters slightly. Water is poured from fancy decanters, servers recite you the specials of the night, and how is bread served to you? In a basket with checkered wax paper. The dichotomy between the elegance of the restaurant and this small detail I believe cheapen the experience. Why not put the bread in a linen napkin? They already use them for silverware. We ordered escargot and mussels to start out with. The escargot were served in the traditional escargot dish topped with puff pastry, which was a disaster. The pastry was undercooked on the bottom layer and was frankly a nightmare to deal with. Flakes of pastry littered the table. Mussels served in an individual steamer pot with two (yes, only two) pieces of bread as a side. What is the purpose of that? There was at least a pound of mussels in the steamer, why only offer 2 slices of bread? The second complaint would be the delicious lemony-garlicky-mussel-y broth could not be accessed because 1) there was not enough bread to soak it up and 2) they didn't offer a spoon. My father-in-law and brother-in-law ordered Grilled Calamari salad which was definitely not grilled. The entrees all looked delicious but their tastes will be addressed in the next section; same with the desserts.
Food Taste: good. At $20+ per plate one would think (at least hope) that the food would be phenomenal. The food here was just so/so. The escargot was cooked well and buttery, but the puff pastry was unnecessary and distracting. The mussels were probably the best thing I would say we ate (and I don't even like mussels).
The Calamari salad was not grilled, squid was over cooked, and the salad was nothing special.
I ordered the Rack of Lamb, cooked medium rare (of course) and it was served with ratatouille and scalloped potatoes. The lamb was crusted in a pepper mixture, cooked perfectly and the ratatouille was perfectly seasoned and tender but the potatoes were a disaster. They were played to look like mashed potatoes but when cut into were just an undercooked, under seasoned mess.
All other entrees ordered were nothing spectacular. We ordered two desserts: the Buche De Noel (Yule Log) and Apple Crisp. Both were delicious.
The Buche De Noel was rich and chocolatey with a hint of banana gelee to cut the richness.
The Apple Crisp was like the most buttery and decadent apple pie you've ever eaten.
Service: poor. Our server was rude. Flat out rude. It was 7:00 PM on a Tuesday night (it wasn't busy, mind you) and he acted as if we should be honored to be served by him. If someone didn't order when he looked at them, he moved on to the next person. This resulted in two guests not getting drinks with the rest of the table. He also acted bored, as if he wanted to be anywhere but serving us. They also were unable to make Nate's grandma's order of Duck and Pear. It was 7:00 on a Tuesday. I find it hard to believe they sold out.
Cleanliness: excellent. The hotel was immaculate, the restaurant and everything in it were clean.
Total: 10/15
After much deliberation, I must say I would probably not return to La Voute. I wouldn't want to spend top dollar for food and service that definitely doesn't deserve it. Their libations sounded good, but I probably wouldn't order any food.
I guess, readers, use your judgment. It's possible these problems are all the result of growing pains but I know I will not be returning any time soon.
Put this review on Yelp.
ReplyDelete