3 /5 T T: It was highly recommended several times by friends to visit the lounge area (The Parlour) of Bottled in Bond. We made Resy reservations which required a deposit hold and if you cancelled, it would charge you $15.00 + tax PER guest.
Upon arriving, we were quickly welcome and seated—we were given the option to choose between two tables which was nice. The DJ was playing some great old jams and the ambiance was chill. The server (woman) promptly came to our table and took our drink orders.
We ordered two waters with lemon and two Palomas which were really good—maybe a tad sweet but I would order it again. Then it went downhill from there…we never received our waters and had to flag down the server. We did order food which were:
• Parmesan Truffle Fries with Spicy Ketchup—7/10: the fries were warm and tasted great for about 10 minutes –reminded me of McDonald’s fries but thicker.
• Shishito Peppers—7/10: They were hot, tasted fresh, and cooked perfectly—not too overcooked or undercooked. The romesco sauce was not good at all—it had a slight rancid taste to it.
• Andria Meatballs—5/10: They were almost room temperature by the time it made it to the table; The meatballs lacked flavor and the marinara (“plum tomato sauce”) needed more seasoning.
• Side of Dirty Rice w/ Crawfish Cream Sauce—5/10: This was also room temperature. The cream sauce is what saved it as a 5/10 but the rice was overcooked (borderline mushy)—it was not fluffy dirty rice like I am used to in Louisiana.
I had also ordered a side of ranch which I never received and chose not to ask the server. I will blame it on the loud music but I ordered two shots of Fortaleza Blanco—she told me that they were out so I ordered two (2) shots of Fortaleza Reposado and she brought me one (1) shot of Don Julio (gross)…again I left it alone and took it to the head. After she brought the shot, it was super downhill from there. She kept checking on every table AROUND us and not us. Luckily, we enjoyed the music so it didn’t bother us at first. Eventually, we had to flag down another server to get our ticket.
THENNNNN (I already knew this when I made the reservation and I despise it), they charge an auto-gratuity of 20% when there is a DJ or special entertainment. They can treat you any way that they want and still get that 20% gratuity. I don’t have a problem with 20% but making it auto is inconsiderate especially when service is not 20%- worthy.
Overall, I *may* revisit but just for the music and the drinks. The food was not worth it.
