Corbett's lunch.....left me sad and hungry

This is actually my first post on here after following for years. about time.

Just like everyone else I was extremely excited for Dean's new venture to the east end. Didn't have time for dinner so I thought i would check out their lunch. I must say....very bad experience. I am not one to knock new places and as I said before I was waiting for those doors to open just like everyone else. I have nothing against dean or any of his establishments.

To make it brief...
I went alone and I don't know if that's why they acted as if i wasnt there but I didnt feel very "welcomed". I am 26 years old and I may look young but this first thing really pegged me. The second I sat down the waiter looked at me and without asking immediately took the wine glasses from the table. When he returned he asked if I would like some Iced Tea and I kindly asked for a Merlot. He gave me this strange look, checked my I.D., then went and fetched me thy grape elixir with no apology.

Ok, so not that big of a deal. Then...I order Frog Legs-$8.50. Once he puts my order in he comes back and I asked about specials (only because i overheard him speaking to another table about the soup de jour) he looks startled and says "Oh....Oh my bad"...still...I was cool because I couldnt wait for the this amazing food.

The food runner came with my meal....which was the kobe beef burger. Not what I ordered but looked fabulous and smelled incredible. i sadly told my server it wasn't mine and once again, with no apology, took it away. Then the frog legs....
Kermits legs turned out to be very bland..I was bummed. Not to mention, I got less than a mouthful from the entire dish. took me 2 minutes. Not sure on the sauce but it said "confit". Wow, thats a lot of frogs to cook off. They arent exactly the biggest creatures on earth. The sauce they came in was a cream based sauce with what looked to be a balsamic drizzle on top. Bland.bummed.hungry.

I then ordered the chicken Roulade. which came in good timing and had a very nice presentation. But here is where things got really interesting. I can't recall the name of the entire dish as it is a long one but I know it involved kenny's cheese of some sort, collard greens, and ham. Tried to find it online to no avail. Sorry for lack of detail.

The collard Greens tasted like they had been blanched then put right on the plate...absolutely no flavor. The Chicken rounds themselves were extremely overcooked. Very Chewy. The ham was excellent. and the mornay...I put so much salt and pepper on my plate that I took the mornay sauce and turned it into gravy...Felt like a bad dream. I set the plate in the middle of the table, Half eaten, and waited for my server. When he arrived he smailed and said "all done?" and gave him a nod and once again with no care, rushed my plate away...my HALF-EATEN plate away. No to go box, no questions as to why i didnt finish, and of course...no apology.

I spent 25$ and still gave him a 6$ dollar tip. I have faith in corbett's and I'm sure that twice as many people have had an opposite experience. Maybe i just need to try dinner. I dunno but I left bummed and hungry...Off to subway.

I'm wondering if the server issue is one or two particular people.

We went for my birthday dinner. The food was excellent - my entree was the mushroom risotto. It was out of this world good. I really appreciated the vegetarian selections. I did think it was funny that he brought me a spoonful of lamb or veal or some kind of baby animal as the teaser after I'd ordered all vegetarian food. Then he didn't know what it was and had to go back and ask.

I was a tad amused. My husband got two teaser thingies.

Welcome, Eric. Unfortunate lunch. I think they are still shaking things down (tho the disappearing wine glass trick is not a crowd pleaser) and merit another visit.

I'm wondering if the server issue is one or two particular people.

We went for my birthday dinner. The food was excellent - my entree was the mushroom risotto. It was out of this world good. I really appreciated the vegetarian selections. I did think it was funny that he brought me a spoonful of lamb or veal or some kind of baby animal as the teaser after I'd ordered all vegetarian food. Then he didn't know what it was and had to go back and ask.

I was a tad amused. My husband got two teaser thingies.

Ok, I assume teaser-thingie means amuse bouche, but you've stumped me with "baby animal."

...I did think it was funny that he brought me a spoonful of lamb or veal or some kind of baby animal as the teaser after I'd ordered all vegetarian food....

...but you've stumped me with "baby animal.".

I think she means lamb=baby sheep and veal=baby cow. (I guess that's right - my yearly experience with live farm animals begins and ends at the State Fair. OK, no jokes.)

What stumps me is why Eric M left a 24% tip for service he disliked.

Perhaps he was proving a point. Undeserved grat., but I understand.

Perhaps he was proving a point. Undeserved grat., but I understand.

What is the point he was proving with the undeserved gratuity (assuming that's what you mean)? I don't understand.

I suspect service profiling and that was his counter. Not trying to start a debate, though.

Ok, I assume teaser-thingie means amuse bouche, but you've stumped me with "baby animal."

Yep. I was afraid I'd misspell amuse bouche and I was trying to be funny with the baby animal thing. It was either veal (baby cow) or lamb (baby sheep). I only remember because I made a lame joke to my husband about eating babies. Honestly I have no idea which one it was.

He said it was tasty.

I suspect service profiling and that was his counter. Not trying to start a debate, though.

Jackie, I'm not debating. I'm not in the biz and I don't understand what you mean. Are you referring to a "secret shopper" type of scenario where he was surreptitiously evaluating the server?

Sorry. No, I don't suspect any furtive conduct. I just think that he felt profiled due to age (and other things i happen to know about his appearance because I know him personally) and that was potentially his approach to deter future assumptions, should he return. I am in the biz and can relate to overcompensating no matter how bad you've been dealt with. But I've never felt profiled so this is purely speculation.

My wife and I had a very similar experience that left us feeling "ehh". After looking forward to it opening for months, we decided to meet at Corbet's one night after work a couple of weeks ago. Since we both happened to be dressed casually that day, we decided to eat in the bar.

Although the service was adequate, it wasn't spectacular. We had to request a wine list and service in general was slow, but not enough to really complain about. I kind of got the impression that our casual appearance may have thrown the staff off a little. My wife ordered the lunch room pizza of the day, which was actually not the one initially quoted to us by our server. Although the pizza was fine, it was cold.

I tried to order Dean's Rib's but, although they were on the menu, they hadn't started serving them yet. Once I received the disappointing news, I went with the Kobe Sliders with Sweet Potato fries. The burgers were fine, but the buns seemed a little stale and they were also served cold. The fries were ample, excellent and the only hot things on our plates.

We both ordered dessert and, although tasty, they seemed a little... puny.

The bill was wrong (it showed that we had the ribs) and it took about 20 minutes to get it fixed once we were ready to leave.

On the plus side, the building is absolutely beautiful and once the weather turns, porch space will be in high demand. According to my wife, the silverware was the nicest that we'd ever used (I don't pay to much attention to that kind of thing).

All in all, a disappointing outing that we are going to chalk up to a place trying to find its stride in its opening weeks. We are definitely going to give it another try, but it will probably be awhile before we get the desire to go back.

I definitely chalk up these miscues (how's that for a pun?) to the fact that the place is so brand new.

Right in the corner pocket, Ron. I would rack it up to a server scratch.