Corbett's: Give it FIVE stars!

[Robin Garr]

Hubby and I have reservations for my birthday 12/28 (a BIG birthday and I cannot wait, especially after this thread!

Congratulations Chef Dean and the entire team responsible!

Happy (belated) birthday, Melissa! How was Corbett's?

[Robin Garr]

Just in from a three hour adventure at Corbett's.

Glad you had a good time, TP. Thanks for a good, and fair, review. Any particular dishes that really rang the bell for you?

Glad you had a good time, TP. Thanks for a good, and fair, review. Any particular dishes that really rang the bell for you?

I'd say the veal cheek ravioli with just a tiny serving of fried sweetbread with microgreens were a few outstanding bites to warm up the palate (and, as I mentioned earlier, serving sizes were small enough as not to make one feel "stuffed" during the meal). A true test of preparation, in my opinion, was that one of my companions and I ordered the pork chop prepared to different temperatures - and, they were done exactly as we ordered, with an excellent grilled flavor and plenty of moisture in the center (even for his medium-well preparation, as contrasted to my pink-center request). I'm not a sugar person, but the desserts looked fabulous and earned rave reviews from my tablemates (I do find it odd that there is no menu for brandies or cognacs, but perhaps that will come with maturity for the restaurant).

Again, just an outstanding evening. In retrospect, the minimal service slowdown was not a distraction at all from the terrific food.

Here's a link to the menu (added to http://www.MenusOfLouisville.com):
http://www.estespr.com/menus.pdf

Can someone clue me in as to the beer list?

Went to Corbetts last night and had to admit the experience was a bit disappointing given the reviews I had seen. Overall, it was very good, but want to make some points clear in hopes of making overall experience better.

First, the good parts, which still predominated the evening. The food was absolutely great. We started with Scallop starter, which was perfectly cooked and garlicly lemon sauce was great. I had a beet bisque which is best bisque I have ever had. Also, had a perfectly cooked pork chop and wife had the Okinawan Ravioli, which she loved. We finished off with apple crepe dessert.

However, there were 2 items that I would say detracted from an overall "4 star" type experience. Not sure if necessarily fair in review, but thought I would provide, and forum readers can judge.

1. Service was polite, but always responsive, not proactive. A couple of examples. First, we were served bread, but no butter. Once we asked, took 5-10 minutes for butter to arrive, by which time we had eaten bread. We asked for more bread, but was not provided until third time (although one time request went through water guy). Second, the appetizer was served downstairs along with drinks. When check came, the bill did not have the charges on that, and I had to inform the server they had undercharged. If I had not paid attention (server had not), chance bill would have had to been rung up twice.

2. Although building is very cool blend of existing farmhouse and moder decor, there was a "whistling" in the building for a while. It turns out my wife had placed her purse over an air vent because the cold air had blown out the grate. When it was removed, air was literally shooting up so hard, her hair was blowing from the air off the floor. The floor manager was attentive and provided us a couple menus to place over vent, but it was something that had to be remedied in mid-meal.

Anyhow, overall, the food was excellent, but the items mentioned above definitely detracted from experience (though my wife was pretty cool about the air issues).

At this stage, though, could not recommend it over some of my other favorites in city like 211 Clover or Le Relais. I plan to give it a few months to work out the kinks.

Thanks for the review Ron. Those are fair criticisms, and I am sure Dean is happy to hear about them so he can begin to remedy the issues at once. I'd give them a pass on the HVAC issues because the building is brand spanking new, but the butter thing is weird.

1. Service was polite, but always responsive, not proactive. A couple of examples. First, we were served bread, but no butter. Once we asked, took 5-10 minutes for butter to arrive, by which time we had eaten bread. We asked for more bread, but was not provided until third time (although one time request went through water guy). Second, the appetizer was served downstairs along with drinks. When check came, the bill did not have the charges on that, and I had to inform the server they had undercharged. If I had not paid attention (server had not), chance bill would have had to been rung up twice.

If we were there at the same time, I think they were just mildly panicked over the crowd and got behind the "eighth ball" in the service department. However, I think the waitstaff has a great attitude (and I love the crisp uniforms vs. a dirty cover-up of some sort as we see so often).

Melissa Richards wrote:
Hubby and I have reservations for my birthday 12/28 (a BIG birthday and I cannot wait, especially after this thread!

Congratulations Chef Dean and the entire team responsible!

Robin Garr wrote:
Happy (belated) birthday, Melissa! How was Corbett's?

Robin - thanks for the good wishes! Happy New Year!

Here is the thing, I was debating posting this, but I will do so, having seen the notes below.

First, for the good news. The food was absolutely delicious, no doubt about it. I especially loved the beet and foie gras bisque. Sounded intriguing, tasted amazing - earthy, rich and yet light...all at the same time. While I wanted the elk loin, guilt over holiday indulgence got the better of me and I ordered the Loup de Mer. It was perfectly cooked - golden brown outside, moist and flaky inside. Delicious! Hubby had the wild mushroom risotto, which he said was terrific.
We also experienced a great example of a problem handled well - our original bottle of wine had something "funny" in the finish. No one could put their exact finger on it, but the situation was handled graciously by (what appeared to be) the floor manager on duty - a lovely woman who was smart, personable and knew her food and wine .

Here's the thing - other than the situation above, our service was "off" the entire night. We seemed to spend a lot of time looking around the dining room for our server. Hubby at one point said to me - "he's right over there, if I close the menu, maybe that will indicate to him we're ready." (this was after we spent a few minutes looking around bewilderingly.) We still waited, menus closed, awkwardly for several more minutes. It didn't seem to be an issue of staffing - we saw at least 3 different servers in our area. I had completely forgotten about the multi-course tasting menu...until it was offered to the table next to us by a different server. Sadly, it sounded wonderful and I would have ordered it, if the server had bothered to talk to us about it.

In the 2 hours we were there, I witnessed two levels of service. There was definintely more attentive service - where the tasting menu was discussed and described, where the server took time and checked back with the table regularly. Other tables got something a little bit less.

Having read the original reviews in this post, I expected to be "wowed" across the board. Maybe my expectations were too high....but I WAS wowed by the food (and by the breadth and selection on the wine list), but not so much by the remainder of the experience, and that's disappointing. We want Corbett's to do well, and we wanted to be able to walk away raving about everything, but we just couldn't. With tables placed fairly close together, everyone's service level is on display. It becomes apparent when certain servers are stronger than others, or are having an "off" night, or may simply be better at their jobs.

As we were leaving, we saw Dean, and briefly thanked him for coming to this end of town. We meant it, we're thrilled he's brought fine dining to the "burbs.' However, he was sitting with other people, and we didn't want to ruin his conversation with a complaint. So, we didn't say anything. Now, I wish I had at least said something to the woman who so deftly handled the situation with the wine.

It's not my intent in posting to discourage anyone from going to Corbett's. The food really is fabulous and deserving of every accolade. We witnessed great service at tables near us, so we know that it is absolutely possible. I'm posting so that the folks at Corbett's can hopefully address the situation; as it appears from the other postings that we weren't alone in our experience.

I'm hopeful that when we return, we can rave across the board, and that by working the kinks out, others on the forum can have "5 star" experiences. I still want to try the elk loin with a beautiful red!

While I wanted the elk loin, guilt over holiday indulgence got the better of me and I ordered the Loup de Mer... I still want to try the elk loin with a beautiful red!

After living in Idaho amongst the elk with a husband who is an avid meat hunter (which means we eat everything he kills, or give it to the needy), I was surprised by your comment regarding your recent menu choices at Corbett's. I found the following information on the internet regarding nutritional information for elk and sea bass. You probably would have been better off ordering the elk (unless there was a rich sauce served over it which you did not mention). Elk is VERY lean, and the loin is one of the leanest parts. So next time, don't fret over ordering the elk... your waistline won't suffer!

Thanks for posting that they have elk on the menu... that will be my ticket to an amazing date night (my husband won't be able to resist). I am not a huge game meat fan, but I do really enjoy a good elk tenderloin... and moose is even that much better!!

From wapiti.net:

Elk Meat Nutritional Information

USDA Nutrient Database
100 gram serving
Nutrient Elk Beef Chicken

Protein (g) 22.95 17.32 21.39
Total Fat (g) 1.45 24.05 3.08
Saturated Fat (g) 0.530 9.750 0.790
Cholesterol (mg) 55 74 70

Fron evitamins.com:

Nutritional Highlights

Sea bass, 1 fillet (3.5 oz.) (99g) (cooked, dry heat)
Calories: 125
Protein: 24g
Carbohydrate: 0.0g
Total Fat: 2.6g
Fiber: 0.0g