10/11/09

no more birthdays at beast

by aubreyfairchild

yes, it's unique--so what? it is really expensive and a bit of a stretch--way too precious for me. i went two years in a row for my birthday with two other food snot friends who were also celebrating. i'm not doing it again. i think the truth about this place is somewhere between the worst reviews and the moderate ones. although they are seriously good cooks the concept is boring after the first try.

• Pros: some items are really good
• Cons: what if you don't want a saddle of rabbit?

07/28/09

Great food

by evatina

Beast can be slow sometimes but is usually great food and worth the wait

• Pros: lives up to the hype
• Cons: a little slow sometime

07/07/09

A Beast of a Night

by KlumpKnop

After hearing much about the food at beast I visited their Website and reviewed the opening days, menus and all of the other information that one might want to know about a restaurant. All sounded good so without any other questions I ask the concierge at our hotel to make a reservation for three persons at the second seating on July 3rd.

We arrived 10 minutes early, opened the door and found the early diners sitting quietly eating their dessert at two communal tables. Wait, communal tables? The Website mentioned nothing about communal dining. The room was devoid of decoration and looked more like barn than a dining room.

Some of the diners seemed startled by our presence but shortly a waitress arrived and, with an air of disdain, informed us that we could either sit by the door and wait for the next seating or have drinks in the restaurant next door until we were called.

We proceeded to the Yakuza Restaurant next door quite upset by the idea of communal dining when we had anticipated a quiet dinner by ourselves with some conversation regarding personal family matters. After a few seconds consideration we decided to abandon Beast and have dinner at Yakusa (which turned out to be spectacular). The host acknowledged that this was not the first time that Beast patrons had balked at communal dining and offered to intercede with Beast management to cancel our reservation and hopefully avoid having to pay the $60 cancellation fee. The cancellation was taken but they charged my credit card the $60 fee.

Deceptive advertising, self important staff, communal dining, barn like atmosphere, inconsiderate cancellation policies all make one star too high a rating for this travesty of a restaurant. Yakuza on the other hand was a total delight and the antithesis of Beast.

• Pros: We did not eat there.
• Cons: Read my review