Location: Animal + Backyard at the Solé East Resort on Second House Road in Montauk (soleeast.com/restaurant)
Edibles: bbq pork belly sliders, followed by grilled striped bass with creamed corn for me; pig ear chili-lime salad with a fried egg and the sliders for Abby; Jill and Elizabeth shared the deep-fried hominy app, the chorizo and petit basque cheese app and the balsamic pork ribs
Musings: We were so excited to read about chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo (two of Food & Wine's best new chefs of 2009, owners of Animal in LA) doing a pop-up restaurant in Montauk. We immediately made reservations.First, a few sentences about the food before I start my rant on the horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE service.
The sliders had a great sauce and great flavor, but were about 80% fat. Total pork fat aficionado that I am, even I had to do some serious trimming. I loved my main, a luscious slab of bass. The serving size of the creamed corn was pretty stingy considering that fresh corn is practically free right now. Elizabeth and Jill's chorizo and cheese app was good, basically a dish of pizza toppings melted together. Their rib plate provided almost an entire rack; the meat was so tender it literally fell off the bone. Good sauce there, too. Abby's pig ear salad was way too vinegary and a couple of bites was plenty for me.
On to the farcically atrocious service. Pretty much everything that could go wrong, did. I think the fatal flaw was keeping the regular Backyard menu and kitchens going at the same time as the Animal stuff.
There were more than 10 people serving, but most of them spent the evening wandering around confusedly. One waitress in a blue dress was so dazed and out of it, we thought she had to be either stoned out of her mind or actually mentally disabled.
Despite our reservations, we waited half an hour for our table. We sat, completely ignored, at the bar area and had to ask three times before we got a wine list and cocktail menu.
After we were seated, they were, of course, very slow to bring menus and take our orders. Our empty appetizer plates sat on the table, uncollected, even after our mains had arrived. Again and again, we were brought the wrong food - either dishes we hadn't ordered, or additional plates of food that had already been delivered. I watched as the waiter carrying Abby's sliders stood by the computer for five minutes, trying to figure out where to bring the plate. The top of the bun tumbled to the floor, which he didn't notice. It was kicked aside by another waiter and lay in the doorway for the rest of the evening.
They messed up our order and only brought one plate of ribs when Jill and Elizabeth had each ordered one. And this was AFTER we asked them to check the order, after a third plate of sliders arrived at our table. (Luckily, this worked out perfectly since the serving size was so big, something a conscientious server would have mentioned.)
To top it all off, the stoned waitress spilled a entire glass of water on Abby. Not bothering to apologize, she just wandered off. When we complained to the manager, all he had were excuses. No apologies there, either. We walked off incredulous, exhausted, defeated, and out almost $200 collectively.
Undoubtedly the worst service I've ever experienced. I wouldn't eat there again if you paid me. At the very least, Jon and Vinny should issue a public apology to their diners for subjecting them to what I can only describe as a complete and utter clusterf*ck.
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