We've been dining at Clarity in Vienna for years, and it was particularly a favorite for intimate,…read morespecial-occasion meals. Chef Jon Krinn's menus and his warm, personal touch with diners made the place special. After he left, Chef Tracy O'Grady admirably revived it with creative new menu concepts, and under Chef Danny Ahn the brand has now expanded to a Reston location. Through it all, bartender Victor has been a steady, caring presence -- even as service slowed and courses started taking a long time to arrive.
After one visit where we waited 50 minutes for dessert, we stayed away for a while. We decided to come back to celebrate our anniversary. The new manager, Jeff Miller, and the rest of the staff greeted us warmly, but the dining room was nearly empty, and the air conditioning was set to meat-locker levels. Victor had the day off.
Clarity is known for a daily-changing tasting menu, and we were looking forward to that night's advertised special -- giant tiger prawns, lobster and black truffle risotto, and venison. Instead, we were handed a menu with octopus, cod loin, and duck -- solid dishes, but standard fare you'll find at plenty of restaurants in the area, not the standout the website promised.
We ordered from the regular menu instead. For appetizers, we each got the grilled Wellfleet and Old Salt oyster platter. For entrées, my spouse ordered the yellowfin tuna with tiger shrimp; I asked if I could get the Maryland soft-shell crabs as an entrée with two crabs instead of one. The waiter said no and suggested I add a sweet corn bisque to round out the meal. When he mentioned to the manager that we were unhappy, Jeff offered to plate two crab appetizers together for double the appetizer price. I happily agreed.
The manager explained that website updates were no longer handled in-house, that the tasting menu posted online hadn't actually been available for months, that other guests had complained about the same thing, and that the takeout/pickup menu was also wrong -- to the point that he' had just contacted customers to tell them their online orders couldn't be fulfilled.
Service was slow, and the waiter never told us which oysters were Wellfleet and which were Old Salt. To kitchen's credit, the portions were generous, properly cooked, and genuinely tasty.
The dessert menu seemed uninspired, so I asked about a double shot of Angel's Envy rye instead. It had always been reasonably priced when Victor poured it -- generously, too. This time, I overheard the manager quote the waiter $56. A 750ml bottle (25 oz) currently retails at Virginia ABC for about $75, or $3/oz -- so $56 for a double shot works out to about $18.67 per ounce. I said that wasn't acceptable.
At that point, the manager repeated, for the fourth time, that he was still on the phone trying to get the website fixed. I told him his reiterated efforts might help future diners, but it didn't help us that evening. He said Victor had trained him and that he was charging what Victor would charge -- I told him I didn't believe that, since Victor had always been fair and accommodating. I also said that as the manager overseeing service, he should be checking the website' daily for accuracy himself. He then offered to pay for my "cocktail" out of his own pocket. Before I could point out that a shot of whiskey isn't a cocktail, my spouse asked him to just leave us alone.
We paid and left feeling genuinely sad to see a restaurant we loved fall this far.