I don’t usually comment. The picture of what I ate has for years been an endorsement.
However, although we’re in a pandemic and understandably restaurants are cutting corners because of low customer turnout, I can’t in good conscience simply forgive issues I see that could easily be remedied if the desire was there.
The $21 dollar tofu entree, although good, didn’t measure up to the price tag. It advertised as Panko crusted, yet there were no Panko crumbs present. Either the chef didn’t know how to prepare tofu with a Panko crust or the kitchen ran out, in which case the customer should have been forewarned.
Garnishes are tricky business. When a garnish is this big as shown in the photo, about one quarter the size of the entire dish, then it needs to have some flavor. No salt even was present. Raw, slivers of tasteless veggies do not impress except visually. I felt like I was eating a garden and no, that is not the preference of most people who don’t consume animals. Healthy is fine, but since when did somebody make a rule that it also had to be bland?
The huge blocks of tofu maybe would satisfy some, but again, why no flavor? I’ll bet the chef never has prepared and also eaten this dish. No chef would leave it like that. If a chef is unfamiliar then it’s the chef’s responsibility to do some research.
Unseasoned, poorly seasoned tofu and over-salted noodle.
The best parts were dessert and the over-priced drinks.
Many years ago we came to a brunch at Pier W. They have the same vegan dessert. Sure, it is delicious and should be kept on the menu. But where’s the originality, ingenuity, curiosity of the chef or the owner who settles for that?
Cleveland seems to have a sewer problem when it comes to restaurants. Standing outside the tiny elevator to enter, the rotted fish smell was so strong I almost turned away. I notice the same thing in supermarkets with fish cases – it stinks when you walk by.
Once in to Pier W, you come up a little too quickly to a host desk/podium. The odor there when stepping off the elevator smelled like tooth decay – overwhelming . I can’t think of any other way to describe it. Looking back, I think it was the fragrance one of the people guiding customers to their seats was wearing. Every time she walked by I smelled it. It was enough to ruin the meal.
If I ran a restaurant I wouldn’t allow workers to wear fragrances. Nobody wants to smell a fragrance on somebody else, especially around food, and just about everybody uses too much.
The service was stellar.
ANIMAL-FREE SOUS-CHEF™ 