Joseph Convery

Review of Volver restaurant

My wife and I loved our meal at Chef Garces restau...

My wife and I loved our meal at Chef Garces restaurant Amada, so when we were given "tickets" to a pre-theater dinner at one of his other restaurants we were extremely excited. The anticipatory excitement was probably the high point of our meal.

The kitchen puts together a pretty plate and the service is prompt, which is very important for a pre-theater seating. Beyond that it was very underwhelming.

My prawns were trimmed, but not fully so that was a little odd and seemed like a kitchen mistake or oversight... Fully trimmed: great; Deveined only, head and legs left on: okay, not my preference but it adds to the presentation; Parts of the legs left on: easy enough to remove, but huh? Anyway, as is readily visible in pictures, the sauce on my prawns either broke or way too much finishing oil was added to a dish that needed none. Texture leads my to believe the former and my plate was an oil slick.

My wife's entree worked as a complete bite. However, the individual components did not hold up. The chicken wasn't necessarily dry, but it wasn't moist either and it was most certainly bland. She enjoys al dente pasta, but the cannelloni was pushing the boundaries into undercooked and crunchy.

Our server seemed very green and flustered. The support wait staff that came by to clear our plates and offer refills was much more personable and engaging than the waiter that owned the section. The cocktails were okay, notable in neither a positive or negative regard.