May is a birthday-tastic month in our house.  DH and his twin’s birthday is the day after their elder brother’s birthday and mine is just a few days later.

To celebrate my birthday and DH and his twin’s, SIL and I made rezies at Plum for Sunday night.  I had really been looking forward to it — it’s on my list and was well reviewed by the Post-Gazette’s critic.

For starters, the space is quite nice.  Sleek and modern with an asian flare.

BIL and SIL were running a bit late, so I ordered an oh-so-gingerly cocktail and DH had a coke.

My drink was fantastic — a gingery spin on the Manhattan.  One of the best things about the evening.

SIL and BIL arrived shortly thereafter.  She ordered the Plum specialty cocktail — the name of which escapes me.  I thought it was fine.  SIL didn’t much care for it.

Then it was off to the food races.  I took suggestions from our server and had….

the fantasy roll.  It was fresh and tasty.  A good start.

and the grouper filet, which was nicely cooked in a slightly spicy, slightly sweet sauce.  Not bad.

with a glass of savignon blanc.  Which was a bit grassy to my taste.  Meh.

I definitely had the best meal of the group.  SIL ordered the salmon in black bean sauce, which was miserably over-cooked.  So much so that the sauce couldn’t begin to help it.  (I would have sent it back, but SIL decided against it.)  The guys shared beef lollipops and dumplings as an appetizer.  DH thought both were good enough.  BIL felt that regular take-out was pretty comparable.  (Ouch.)  DH ordered chicken with string beans, which he thought was, again, good enough.  BIL had General Tsao’s chicken, which he didn’t feel was crispy enough.

Overall, the food was overpriced for what it was.

Regardless, we pressed on to dessert.  (Aren’t we supposed to be having a fiesta?!)

SIL and I each had a glass of Chandon Rose bubbly.  Perfect and pink.

She and I also ordered, upon the server’s recommendation:

the chocolate-hazelnut candy bar.  It was quite good — very chocolately and not overly sweet.  I just wished we would have shared one!

The boys had the malted peanut butter ice cream, which they both found to be the highlight of their meals.  However, continuing with the I-feel-slightly-ripped-off theme, BIL thought the portioning was small for the price.  (Two small scoops for $4, I believe.)

So, the food wasn’t everything it was built-up to be.  Which, in and of itself, was a bit of a disappointment, considering the place had gotten such rave reviews.

But what really pushed me over the edge was the service.  It started out quite nice.  He was polite and accommodating as I quizzed him on the menu (which, by the way, is much too big to be manageable in my opinion).  However, by the time our entrees were served, we were all out of drinks and water.  I had to stop him (after making eye contact several times) to ask for a glass of wine and for soda for the guys.  And while he stopped back twice to ask how things were right after that, there was no offer to refill the guys’ drinks thereafter.  I think they both left thirsty.

It became clear that our server was having trouble managing his four tables.  He seemed incapable of multi-tasking.  Which is a big problem if you wait tables.  (My sister says you have to treat the whole room as one table or else you end up neglecting tables as you run back and forth waiting on only one or two.)

When we finished our entrees, I felt like I was imposing upon him to order dessert.  He looked at us like, “oh, you’re still here.”

And then there was the dreaded wait for the check.  We eventually left 2.5 hours after we were seated.   (Hence how the third drink became possible, though still ill-advised.)  And not because we ate slowly.  I don’t object to a long meal, but this was just painful since (a) we practically had to beg for water and (b) by the time we left, they were cleaning and I felt like we had overstayed our welcome.

In the end, it certainly wasn’t a terrible experience.  But I definitely won’t be in a hurry to go back.   If I do, I think I’ll sit at bar and a cocktail and some sushi.

Filed under Drinks, Food by megan13