Sorry it's long. Bear with me.

Went last night with a friend. We had reservations for 7 and knew to expect a wait.

Checked in and were able to snag a table near the piano. I ordered a dirty vodka martini and my friend got a water. Martini ended up being straight vodka and 2 olives. I drank it anyway, but I can only imagine the "dirty" was not added.

We waited for 45 minutes, but since we were expecting the wait and we had a table we were enjoying ourselves.

I never even looked at the menu until we were seated because I knew the staff was hauling arse and I knew we were not going to be rushed. We started with the Oysters Irene and the Escargot.

My friend had never tried escargot, so it was fun watching her try to figure out what part was actually the snail. She said it all tasted like mushroom anyway. While it was very good, I think it should be sold more as a stuffed mushroom with escargot than an escargot dish.

The oysters were great. I loved the bacon, of course. They were also full of oyster liquor, which is the best part.

I ordered the Duck with a glass of the Angeline Pinot Noir and my friend ordered the Cannelloni.

The duck was incredible. The skin was crispy where is needed to be and the meat was tender. The raspberry demi was not too sweet to take away from the duck, which I find happens often at places that go overboard with toppings.

The cannelloni was good as well. She found it very rich, and couldn't even eat half of it. I took a few bites and had to agree. The besciamella was extremely thick and didn't even look like a sauce. The flavor was good though.

Dessert was bread pudding and tiramisu.

I'm not a dessert person, but she was talking about dessert before we even got there, so I ordered the tiramisu.

Both were good, but I can't review desserts because that's about the most I want to reflect on it.

We were blown away by the check. We thought it would be much much more. Great surprise.

Service was very slow, but when the waitress was available, she was attentive and knew what we needed. They were just very busy, so I understood.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and would go back again. I think there are other places I want to try first though.

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Posted by Martini

Near Athens

Member since Mar 2005

49641 posts

Posted on 3/23/11 at 12:15 pm to TheOtherOne

quote:
Martini

You rang?

Great review and while I prefer Tommy's I've always been a fan of Irenes. Service is pretty much always about that as they are always busy but knowing that going in is a big plus. Makes a better dining experience. I would rather be a little slow than having someone try to shove me out the door before I've finished to turn a table.

Not a fan of the escargot but I do like the oyster and they do a great duck.

Post it in the review section.

This post was edited on 3/23/11 at 12:18 pm

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Posted by RummelTiger