Butter

11/10/09

terrible service

by rr2 at Citysearch

Why go somewhere nice if the service makes it a low-class establishment? The service was so out of line in many ways: picking on my friends for not being in their "class" and/or PHYSICALLY FIGHTING with them for absolutely NO REASON! DO NOT GO TO BUTTER! TERRIBLE! BAD!!!! BOOO! If you have morals, values, and are a good person with a heart: DO NOT GO HERE!

10/02/09

Blegh - Nice Decor, but the Food was Mediocre at Best

by misstikki at Citysearch

With a small group of 3, we had dinner during restaurant week and left disappointed. Butter had been well publicized in the media, so we thought we would give it a try. Walking in, the decor is quite lovely (modern, clean lines, candles everywhere) and the dining room was a good large size... but when it came to purpose of a restaurant - eating - the food was bland and blegh. While the wine list was vast and service decent, the portion sizes and quality of food was subpar. There was no flavoring in any of our small sized entrees and the desserts were just okay. Butter has a lot of hype, but not much else.

• Pros: Cool Decor, Good wine list
• Cons: Bland, Subpar Food

08/29/09

Disappointing

by md2059 at Citysearch

Our experience at Butter was extremely uneven and, on balance, disappointing. The food was generally terrific, but overshadowed by bad and slow service, unfortunately located table and noise.

My husband and I have wanted to try this restaurant for a while and came on a Wednesday night during restaurant week. The décor was lovely, although a bit run-down in places upon closer look. At 8:30 pm, the restaurant was full. We were seated promptly at a table toward the back of the room on the first floor, where six tables were placed together in the middle of the room at an extremely uncomfortable distance of maybe 3 inches from each other, in a space that should not have been occupied by more than four tables. We were the unlucky couple seated at a middle table, with two other parties about 3 inches to our right and our left. In addition to having other diners so close to us, the dinning room was tunnel-shaped, with a vaulted ceiling, and the acoustics were terribly bad: the sound seemed to rise up, and it was not loud exactly, but somehow incredibly noisy.

Although the restaurant week menu was displayed by the restaurant’s entrance, the waiter did not bring it to the table, and we had to ask for it. Once he learned that we would be ordering from that menu, he took our order and did not speak to us again. For the remainder of the evening, we were taken care of by the other servers, who, I at first thought, were also badly trained and inattentive (my water glass went completely empty for a while) and seemed rushed. However, as the evening went on and the restaurant started emptying, the servers became friendlier and more attentive, which made me think that the restaurant was simply understaffed.

The couple at a table next to us ordered from a regular menu, and it was interesting to observe the differences in service. For instance, they received a small amuse-bouches from the chef, while we did not. I found it not offensive so much, as laughable: really, an incremental cost of an amuse-bouches was worth to this restaurant alienating potential patrons who came to try its restaurant week menu? Another difference was that the regular-menu table was offered some bread while they were waiting for their meal, while we were not. To which I say again: really?

Our appetizers took a while to arrive, but when they did, both the shrimp with sweetbreads and the charcuterie plate were excellent. Then came the 45-minute wait for the main course. After about 35 minutes, one of the servers ran by to tell us that our entrees were coming out shortly, and about 10 minutes later, indeed they did.

My duck confit was terrific, but barely warm. It sat outside in the kitchen somewhere for so long that a thin, dry film formed over the jus, and the top of the meat became sticky and hard. At that point I was famished and dared not send the dish back for the fear of another long wait. Even cold, I could tell how well-prepared it was. My husband’s salmon was nothing short of phenomenal.

After the main course, the dessert came fairly quickly. The raspberry beignets (really, jelly doughnuts) were lovely. The one culinary disappointment of the evening was the sour cream-based chocolate cake. I do not know whether it was intended to be served warm, but it arrived room temperature, was a bit hard and simply unimpressive. We were not asked whether we wanted any coffee or tea with our dessert, which, in the end, was for the best, because we could not wait to leave.

Despite outstanding food, this was an uncomfortable and disappointing dining experience (and I am willing put up with A LOT for good food). We will not be going back to Butter and I would not recommend this restaurant to others.

• Pros: Great food
• Cons: Poor service, noise, location of some tables