I ve now been to Scott s on three occasions over t...

I ve now been to Scott s on three occasions over the past 18 months, twice for dinner and once for lunch. I remain puzzled, not by the accolades indeed, negative reviews appear quite regularly but by the fact that enthusiastic reviews exist at all.



My problem with Scott s is a problem with attitude. From the proprietor to the service staff, there seems to be a veiled conceit, a hard-to-justify we are it mentality that is both off-putting and unwelcoming. Our attractive hostess, and they are all attractive, managed to simultaneously embody the rather dissimilar traits of being bewildered and indifferent at the same time. A forced smile concealing an otherwise wooden persona, she, without comment or eye contact, paraded us past the bar, paused as if to park us there temporarily, then continued to survey a field of mostly empty (7 PM Friday it filled up later) tables as she tried to determine where best we, two couples with a longstanding reservation, could be seated without unduly compromising a supply of good tables should a celebrity appear seating triage at its most obvious. On seating us she hurried silently away, giving rise to a 10 minute interval of no service at all.

Our waiter then arrived with menus and brusquely handed them out. He dispelled any suspicion that he might be mute when he asked whether we wanted still or sparking water. We requested both. We would have ordered an aperitif had the request for water not absolved the waiter of any further obligation to remain at our table. We mistakenly assumed he would re-appear and, after another 10 minutes, we flagged down another waiter and requested a glass of champagne and two glasses of dry white wine. At this point it was clear that dearth of dialogue promised that a choice of white wine was not going to be in the cards. The arrival of our drinks, after about 5 minutes, was signaled by the muffled thump of glasses being hurriedly deposited on our table.

Things did not improve as the evening wore on. The waiter came and took our orders, but left before the prospect of a wine order could be discussed. In the wake of more discrete signaling, we managed to order a 2014 Crozes-Hermitage Les Trois Chenes, a libation that acquitted itself better than almost anything else experienced at Scott s that evening.