Dinner at Saint Ex

I love Saint Ex, so it’s with a heavy heart that I report on tonight’s decidedly subpar experience. I’d like to think it’s a total aberration and, of all my visits, this has been the singular largely negative experience.

The service was good – of course, I don’t expect fine dining there. All I want is a timely water refill and a smile. In fact, I expect a level of informality and am generally pleased with the expertise of the waitstaff. I’m as young as any of the people waiting on me, I’m not uptight or demanding and, frankly, when I get a little attitude, I appreciate it. It’s a neighborhood joint for me.

The food disappointed tonight, and they were all dishes I’ve had and enjoyed many times before. We showed up around 8 PM and the three of us ordered three things – two burgers med-rare (one bacon/cheddar, on mushrooms) and a grilled calamari over greens. The calamari was well-cooked, but the frisee was so heavily salted that it was barely edible, and the med-rare burgers were brown and juiceless.

We sent the burgers back. Our waiter (also the Gate 54 bartender) was apologetic and understanding. We had full beers and nothing to do, so waiting for a cooked-to-order Saint Ex burger sounded much better than eating the stepped-on burgers we sent back… and far, far better than a slice from Manny & Olga’s.

Here’s the pisser – the second round of burgers were cooked as poorly as the first. Rather than send them back again, we picked at them, paid our check and left, disappointed. One of the burgers was comped, which was much appreciated but only somewhat mollifying.After we sent the first burger back, I asked if Bart was there and was told that he wasn’t – I was unsurprised to hear it, but it’s no real excuse. I was there on Thursday and we were served a few burgers, a grilled calamari and a bowl of mussels with no complaints. This isn’t an endemic issue, but, at the least, it’s an occasional one.

Saint Ex is a restaurant that has been around long enough and under the same chef long enough that Sunday night malaise simply shouldn’t be an issue, and a med-rare burger should be cooked to order the first time, let alone the second. I’d have never brought this up if I didn’t consider Saint Ex way, way better than this.