After my last visit I left with an underwhelming feeling. Neither the food or the service that time…read morewas up to par with the price. This night we were here with my sister-in-law celebrating her belated 40th birthday and I was truly hoping for a night of redemption on their part, even though we presented a bit of a challenge with an 8-top table. They started out strong, taking drink orders and delivering them in a rapid pace. I had a sloe gin mojito (Haymans sloe gin, lime, mint, sugar, soda) that was well executed though slightly too easy/safe on the mint. The waiter then took our food order but didn't write it down and for some obscure reason didn't ask what we wanted to drink. I found it strange although since he collected our menus but left the wine- and drink-list we all assumed he'd return shortly asking about drinks/wine. This was however the moment when I got that gut-feeling of "this isn't going to end well". And I hate it when I'm right, at least on occasions such as these. The waiter did return quite swiftly after taking our order, but only to quickly ask what one of us had ordered for starter as he didn't remember it. Before I had a chance to say we still hadn't ordered our drinks for our food he was gone, and I tried getting his attention over the next ten minutes without any success (major flashback to the last time I was here). And true enough, the starters came for everyone and I immediately said "We didn't even get to order our drinks/wine for the food!". The waitress holding three plates almost panicked, stopped in mid-step and didn't know what to do or where to turn. Our waiter noticed something was immediately wrong and we pointed out the blatant error. He tried to redeem it as fast as possible, and arranged for drinks for everyone. To me he suggested a pinot noir (Le Village Savigny-les-Beaune 2012, actually only on the bottle but he arranged for a glass) that was well and truly delicious to my starter of thick flank ox tartar, soured cream, tarragon purée, horseradish, and pickled red onion. While my starter was excellent, several other gave mixed reviews. Plate of charcuteries was bland, the smoked Baltic herring tasted nothing of smoke along with the grilled potato-bread underneath was burnt (and we're talking truly black burnt!).
Going to the main courses this time around the waiter arranged for the drinks/wine before the dishes were presented. I was hoping on sampling a wine from Patagonia but it was unfortunately sold out. Instead he arranged for a glass of 2011 Médoc (Chãteau Patache d'Aux) that was a delicate experience to my main of reindeer filet, roasted garlic puree, ox-tail jus, smoked marrow, and fall vegetables. Truly spectacular dish! But yet again, a few in our company gave mixed reviews. A beef tenderloin that came with a stringy sinew(!), and my wife's rib-eye had both sinews, tangy fat on the outskirts as well as the temperature way off. Ordered medium, came more towards medium well borderlining on well done at places. Also, they came in with fries despite no one had ordered them, and they brought in too little of the potato gratin in relation to the people that had ordered it.
For my dessert I had pickled lingonberry with yoghurt, roasted flaxseed, caramel curd and ice-cream. In the glass a small amount of 23 YO Ron Zacapa rum. All in all tasty, but the dessert was perhaps a bit one-dimensional and too sour without anything sweet enough to counter the tartness.
All in all, two dinners in, I'm left with a bit of a conundrum. My ratings always reflect how well the particular establishment fulfill my expectations. I have higher standards for a place like this than the burger joint on the corner, while both of them still have the same chance of recieving a high grade if they exceed my expectations or literary blow my mind. The problem with Tages is that they don't measure up to what is expected of them. They lack finesse and detail in service, not attentive to what the customer wants and needs, but first and foremost they make too many mistakes with their food! Maybe it's a problem of too many tables and too many dishes on the menu? I don't know, but I'm unable to overlook the many cracks in the stylish facade. They didn't bring their A-game, and I'm truly doubting I will return as a customer as I've previously had much better food/experience/service for the same price tag. In my view, the price isn't worth the experience, and that's not a recipe for a restaurant's longevity.
