Chianti Grill, Falcon Heights - June 13, 2007

Her perspective: C-

We wanted to go someplace a little nicer tonight because it was the anniversary of our first date. We were greeted almost immediately by the host and did not have to wait for a table. She put us back in a corner, which I preferred, but we were right next to a family with a child of about 10. We ordered a bottle of wine, which was served with spotted glassware and the wine chiller had ice in it because it had not been pre-chilled. Our server served the wine properly and maintained a pleasant and professional demeanor throughout our visit. However, she did not write anything down when she took our order. We ordered our appetizer and entrees at the same time and she promptly forgot to order the appetizer.
I commented to Bill that we had gotten our salads before our appetizer, but we thought perhaps they were just being served out of order. The bread was wrapped in a linen napkin, but was not warm. When we received our entrees, I inquired about the appetizer and the server replied that she had forgotten about it. She did apologize and I told her to forget the appetizer, that we had enough food. She brought it out anyway and told us it would be on the house. We would have preferred not to have it at all at that point.
Bill's steak was supposed to be Medium Well and came out Well Done and slightly charred on the outside; his fish had quite a bit more bones than is normal for walleye. My chicken dish was quite good, the sauce was wonderful and the potatoes were good as well. When the server checked on our meals, Bill was almost finished eating the steak, but he did mention to her that it was overdone. The kitchen manager came out and offered to put another steak on the grill, but we declined. It was a good effort.
When we finished our entrees, Bill ordered a mixed drink from the bar, I ordered a shot of a liqueur and asked for a dessert menu. I also asked for the rest of my chicken and the rest of the appetizer boxed up. 10 minutes later, the server came back to inform us that they were out of that particular liqueur despite the fact that several drinks on their drink menu include it. I asked for a drink menu. She brought that, then brought out Bill's drink and we still had yet to get the dessert menu. Bill's drink had some sort of sauce on the inside of the glass.
By this time, we were so put off by the whole experience that we sent her away with the drink to get our check. I double checked it. They had taken the appetizer off, as well as $10 off Bill's meal. His drink was not listed. We just wanted to leave at this point and didn't realize until we got home that we never got our boxed food.
However, as we left, the host inquired about our meal and, with a luke-warm response, actually took an interest in what had happened and offered to get a manager. We had already talked to one, so we declined, but it was nice that she didn't just ask because it was part of her job; she actually seemed interested.
We may go back after a couple of months, just to give it a second chance, perhaps with another server. However, since there were problems in both the service and the kitchen, we are not optimistic.