Sage or not?
Excitement bubbled through me, once again I was going to a fine dining establishment to enjoy a winterlicious dinner; Delicious food in winter. This time we were going to Sage restaurant. I had never heard of the place until a few days before when I was told we had reservations to eat there. So being curious and all (not nosy, curious!) I went online and did some research. The pictures looked nice and the menu, even if not exotic and different, still looked quite appetizing. So my smile was firmly in place and my stomach expectant. When we first arrived, the outside looked nice and inviting, maybe the soft falling snow helped but I found myself eager to go in and once again please my taste buds. So we did what we had to do and walked in...Once we did, I had a nagging suspicion in the back of my mind that maybe we should have kept on walking and kept the illusion intact. The fine dining environment I was expecting quickly disappeared to give place to something else entirely; a place that tried too hard to impress. Sage by definition is having wisdom that comes with age and experience, the place I walked into should have been called Pre-pubescent. With the newspaper article glued on their walls and windows, flyers of their “exploits” available at every corner, I felt like I was in the room of a 13 year old that thought had done and learned everything there was to already. But I am no snob and I was there for the food, not the ambience. Although ambience is a nice thing once in a while, but some of the best food I have eaten was in a hole in a wall environment so I wasn’t going to let that influence whether or not I was going to enjoy the meal.
I started with Mixed Greens in a Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette. The taste was that of an ordinary salad, I guess when ordering a salad it is to be expected, but still I was hoping for something better then what I find at my work’s cafeteria, and even then I am not even sure they did it as well, but it wasn’t bad if a little mushy. I wasn’t enthralled but it was eatable.
However once I excused myself from the table to visit the ladies' room, I was less then impressed, first I had to actually walk outside the confine of the restaurant and second, it wasn’t clean! I mean I can deal with abstentious decors or lack of great ambience but any self respecting restaurant above a McDonald should make sure that their washrooms is above the freezing temperature and does not require waddling through dirty paper towels. (Well, maybe there were only a couple of used paper towels on the floor but 1 is already too many so I feel justified by complaining about it.)
Once I got back, shivering, the main course had been brought to the table. Seared Chicken Breast stuffed with Feta, Spinach & Tomatoes, accompanied with Vegetable & Potato. In theory it sounds good, and it was but it also was boring and uninspired. The potatoes were good; the chicken was just that chicken, it tasted bland and was a bit dry, and if it was stuffed with anything, I couldn't taste it (Even I can make tastier chicken then that).
All in all I was very disappointed with the meal. I won’t say I regret going, first because despite the food I had a great time (it’s not what you eat, it’s whom you eat it with, well at least in some instance) and second because my philosophy is that I will try anything at least once (food wise that is). So I tried Sage, and now that I did, the experience is done and over with, I can happily move on to a much better one (one would hope so anyway). My parting words are, Sage wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either, your money would be better spent somewhere else.
I started with Mixed Greens in a Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette. The taste was that of an ordinary salad, I guess when ordering a salad it is to be expected, but still I was hoping for something better then what I find at my work’s cafeteria, and even then I am not even sure they did it as well, but it wasn’t bad if a little mushy. I wasn’t enthralled but it was eatable.
However once I excused myself from the table to visit the ladies' room, I was less then impressed, first I had to actually walk outside the confine of the restaurant and second, it wasn’t clean! I mean I can deal with abstentious decors or lack of great ambience but any self respecting restaurant above a McDonald should make sure that their washrooms is above the freezing temperature and does not require waddling through dirty paper towels. (Well, maybe there were only a couple of used paper towels on the floor but 1 is already too many so I feel justified by complaining about it.)
Once I got back, shivering, the main course had been brought to the table. Seared Chicken Breast stuffed with Feta, Spinach & Tomatoes, accompanied with Vegetable & Potato. In theory it sounds good, and it was but it also was boring and uninspired. The potatoes were good; the chicken was just that chicken, it tasted bland and was a bit dry, and if it was stuffed with anything, I couldn't taste it (Even I can make tastier chicken then that).
All in all I was very disappointed with the meal. I won’t say I regret going, first because despite the food I had a great time (it’s not what you eat, it’s whom you eat it with, well at least in some instance) and second because my philosophy is that I will try anything at least once (food wise that is). So I tried Sage, and now that I did, the experience is done and over with, I can happily move on to a much better one (one would hope so anyway). My parting words are, Sage wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either, your money would be better spent somewhere else.
posted by Les Gourmands at 1:34 PM
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