My wife has been talking about this place. It opened a week or two ago at the Galleria. I wasn’t too excited about just another restaurant, only this one full of people dipping bread into cheese.
Wrong. Read this:
Lets start with the layout. It’s very dimly lit, with a modern art deco sort of flair. But it’s not just a big dim dining room. It’s a labyrinth of small dining rooms, a bar, and multiple private dining cubbies. I called ahead for reservations, and my wife and I ate in a private cubby where nobody can see you. Very private and romantic. Very NYC-like.
They’re still a bit unorganized, as several people came to make sure we had our drinks. But of course this beats being forgotten about, so I can’t really fault them. They were out of one of the ingredients to the first martini my wife tried to order. So she got a black raspberry margarita. I had a glass of wine. Both were good.
We ordered the “Big Night Out.” It’s a 4 course meal, consisting of a cheese fondue of your choice, a salad, an entree fondue, and a chocolate fondue. $79.99-$94.99 depending on whether you add lobster tails to it.
So we started with the cheddar cheese fondue. Our waiter came and turned on the electric burner (there’s one at every table) and placed a pot on it. Then proceded to make the fondue in front of us. It was served with several types of chunked bread, apple pieces, celery, carrots, and cauliflower. It was delicious. The cheese stayed hot and melted the whole time thanks to the burner. At the end of course our waiter cleared everything away and turned off the burner.
Then came our salads. They were good. That’s about all I have to say about them.
Then came our entree. Holy God. Again the waiter turned on the burner and made a fondue in front of us. We opted for the “Coq au Vin” style. It was a very brothy type of thing, with bits of wild mushrooms in it with some seasonings. Instead of sitting there staying warm though, this one is kept hot and simmering. For dipping, you are served a plate of partially cooked vegetables (potatoes, zuchini, mushrooms) and a plate of raw meats. Yes, raw. 3 different kinds of steak, chicken, shrimp, 2 types of ravioli. You and your date each have 2 fondue forks. The beef is placed in the fondue pot for 2 minutes, everything else for 1.5 minutes.
We were a bit put off at first, as we thought we were going to be served cooked food that we just dip and eat. It turned out to be extremely easy to stick one fork in for a minute or two, pull it out, put something else in, eat, pull out fork #2, repeat. Very easy and stress free, no timing or anything. No thought or concentration required. You’d have to be pretty special get stressed by trying not to screw it up or go extended periods of time without food.
Of course everything cooked was already marinated in something delicious, and served with no fewer than 7 sauces. All 7 were fantastic, ranging from an orgasmic gorganzola cheese sauce for the beef to delicious sweet and sour plum sauce for the chicken.
If you’re the romantic type the setting is perfect to be cooking things for each other, feeding each other, and all that other stuff that makes most of us guys grunt indignantly. 
Not only was it all delicious, but there was plenty. You “could” finish it all pretty easily, but I didn’t. There was plenty and I was already 3 courses in with a desert yet to come.
We opted for the raspberry chocolate fondue for desert. Same deal, waiter came and made it for us. It was a milk chocolate sauce with crushed bits of real rasperry in it. To dip we were served a plate of rice crispy treat pieces, marshmallows, strawberries, banana, cheesecake, and pound cake. I don’t really have a sweet tooth so I stuck mostly to the strawberries and bananas. Of course, a cup of black coffee served as a nice contrast to the chocolate for me. I enjoyed it. Anyone with a sweet tooth would be in heaven.
My wife tried to order a cappuccino with desert, but their machine was broken. I’ll chalk it up to growing pains.
Given the privacy, lighting, and eating as a fun activity, I have to say this is probably the best “date” restaurant in Buffalo.
Overall definitely :tup: :tup:
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