2223

2223 Market Street

Tel: 415-431-0692

Mecca is both great for a martini as well as a civilized meal.

I reviewed 2223 over a year ago, and have been back several times, enjoying each visit. Recently with an out-of-town ‘celebrity’ restaurateur to have a fun, happening ‘City’ dinner before my friend returned to Chicago that night.

My ‘celebrity chef’ buddy is very fond of the Cypress Club and the work John Kunin does creating his dining joints, so we opted for 2223. This was to turn out to be our ‘night from hell’ at a place I had come to rely on without a second thought. I look back and laugh, because it was one of those evenings that just compounds the craziness until it’s almost ‘stranger than fiction,’ which I thought this night had become by the time we departed 2223.

I had laid out our requirements with the ‘reservationist’ (hard to believe that’s now a job title) and expected to have no problems because the management and staff have always been on top of things. There were five of us, all men--and large men to boot. I warned the desk of this when making our reservation because it can be a problem when a bunch of huge guys who order a lot of food and liquid are crammed into too small a space. And that’s exactly what happened. I watched nervously as four small, prancing relatives of Ken and Barbie sashayed in the front door, and were quickly escorted to the only remaining table that could comfortably accommodate our group, while we were already there spending money at the bar.

I told the host we were ready, and we were escorted to a make shift table which actually consisted of two café tables pushed together and into a corner, where one of us was bound to be uncomfortable throughout the meal.

This was just the beginning. I let the host know I was unhappy about the seating and that was ignored throughout the ensuing evening. But it turned out to be such a small glitch it was insignificant in ‘The Twilight Zone’ which was what we now call this interesting place, always so consistently good until this rare and shockingly out of character evening.

Our waitperson appeared with some suggestions for wine and appetizers, and said she’d be back shortly since we were fine with our drinks that we brought from the bar. We perused the menu, and perused the menu, a mindful eye on the clock considering our out of town friends flight time.

It soon became clear we had been assigned ‘team B’ to assist us in our dining experience and occasionally we were visited by someone way too busy to help us expedite our mission to spend money for a dinner.

As our cocktail glasses started to empty, from a combination of evaporation and thirst, we finally received long ago requested water. The addition of water glasses left so little room on the table that perhaps the wait staff thought there was no place to put more drinks and therefore never asked if anyone wished a second drink. We finally did get a good bottle of a fairly priced Merlot, but again, never were given the opportunity to say no to a second offering.

The slow service had robbed us of the chance to sample as much of the menu as we wanted to, but we started with some excellent salads. We also wound up with one of the two appetizers we ordered, a fantastic crackling crusted pizza with pears, Gorgonzola and crisp nuts at $8.95. It was one of the finest pizzas any of us have ever had. We were sorry we didn’t get our other appetizer, because we were all still hungry for more of the seductive tastes we’d had so far with salads and the pizza.

Then started the final descent into hilarious depravity. We had ordered a variety of entrees and they started arriving and stopped arriving. The pecan maple glazed pork chop with smashed garnet yams, sautéed cabbage, Fuji apples with a sage infused jus at $14.95 came first, on it’s heels was the roasted monkfish with rock shrimp tamale, chayote squash, a shellfish tomato broth and charred scallions at $15.95, a genuine bargain, and their justifiably famous herb roasted chicken with garlic mashed potatoes, blue lake beans and some of the best fried onion rings I’ve ever tasted at $13.95.

For some strange reason, the other two entrees simply didn’t show up for about 10 minutes, and we waited and waited. They finally arrived and were cold, which prompted one in our group to strongly suggest that he wanted this late arrival sent back to the kitchen and returned to him hot. The two late arriving entrees were sent back and finally re-appeared another 20 minutes later, after the rest of us had finished our entrees, and were nervously twitching while the other two hurriedly ate theirs.

About this time our original waitperson came by and asked how things were going, and there was an incredulous burst of laughter from the good humored and forgiving members of our party. They rushed through their entrees and we requested the check so we could get our departing friend to the airport. I want to summarize this experience in the best possible way, because 2223 is a very good restaurant and bar, a standout in this competitive marketplace with so many outstanding and excellent restaurant opportunities. They suffered the night of this particular visit a series of problems that other guests did not notice or endure so there is always subjectivity to be considered in a situation that seems so blatant to the party suffering through it.

The food we were served was outstanding but the service was really off this visit. The conclusion I draw is that this type of thing happens to all of us, and when it does we can benefit and make it easier for everyone involved by simply acknowledging it, and making amends where called for. My frustration and resentment was that the floor manager was so out of the loop that he did not offer even a ‘sorry’, let alone a complimentary drink for our chaotic experience. Whatever the excuse, it’s simply the truth that these things happen, like 'merde', and it passes.

I talked subsequently with John Gray, the managing partner of 2223, who was genuinely shocked that the evening had grown so out of control without any measures taken to assuage a potentially disgruntled customer, and he has done everything in his power to make it up to our party. He gave us a gift certificate that we can offer to a charitable cause of our choosing-- inspirational solution that will bring us back at least once more time.

The food again was terrific, the staff very pleasant and courteous, and the ambience at 2223 is great with its soft color palette and gorgeous harlequin murals. This is a serious and exciting restaurant, which I highly recommend.

Stu Smith

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