Recently I returned to Small Plates with some special guests that we had in town. I had really talked it up and told them about this really cool place where you can experience a variety of foods, colors, and textures all in one meal. When we walked in I remembered why we loved the place before. It has great personality. A long narrow dining room with a bar down the right and tables on the left. An open kitchen at the end of the restaurant allows diners to watch their meals being prepared.
The host was friendly enough, and seated us near the windows. I thought it was surprisingly quiet for an evening that events were going on in the city, but we were a little early so I really thought nothing of it. Our waitress came and was very distracted and un-attentive right from the start. Not bothering to write anything down so she managed to get my guests drinks wrong, and this was only the beginning of several mistakes.
As we began perusing over the menu, I noticed that it just simply was not what it used to be. We went expecting to get a large sampling of several different items, but instead, I was looking at an average bistro menu. All the usual's were there, for an average dinner menu. While there are still a generous list of appetizers. What made this place Small Plates had somehow been transformed and dumbed down to normal plates.
I ended up with a sandwich, and one of my guests had a pizza and we did all share what we had order, but it is just simply not the same. None of the food was bad, but it was just not what we had gone expecting at all, it was just normal. Small Plates is no longer the experience that it has been in the past, and the service this time round was simply lacking from what it used to be. The whole thing was just simply, average.
