718.384.6343
A beautifully restored restaurant, the iron wrought dining room reminds me of London, or perhaps New Orleans, not hipster haven Williamsburg. The iron working and tiled floors give off an ambiance that is rarely found in New York. This is about all I can say that was positive about the experience, and as much as I hate to write a negative review, cannot avoid it after encountering such an over-priced, mediocre, and quite frankly, insulting experience.
Owner, Colin Devlin, is no stranger to the gourmet Americana fare. Dumont, and Dumont Burger, both offer quality products at reasonable prices. Yet, his insistence on good food must have made him blind to service, and the shadow cast by the misgivings of the pretentious servers could spoil even the most savory of dishes. Not to say that the menu is something more than usual. It reeks of over cheffing, with each and every item having just one too many ingredients; for instance the sea scallop salad that contains too many oranges. Or the snapper, which turns out to be a considerably Asian dish in an Americana restaurant. All in all the menu has no identity or consistency, and the only dish that was interesting was a throwback to Dumont: the White bean and Artichoke salad.
Our party of three arrived on time for our reservation, and then waited five minutes to flag down a server to order a cocktail. We were tartly informed that she wasn’t our server, and thus rendered completely incapable of helping us. While waiting for our server we served bread, but no water. I can only assume they wanted us to work up our thirst, but this was not the case for when our server did arrive she asked for our dinner order. Fifteen minutes or so later, we were given our cocktails and our wine simultaneously. This junior varsity maneuvering should have prompted us to go, but I foolishly coaxed my companions to stay a little while longer.
Dressler does not offer specials, nor does it allow substitutions. To me, this is the spawn of chef ego, insisting that we eat the food the way it was meant to be prepared. This line of arguing is sufficient until a dietary restriction or food allergy comes in to play, and then its self-righteousness shines. "Sorry I can't take out the peanuts because of a nut allergy, we don't allow substitutions." The menu was so overly sophisticated that two of us ordered the plain salad and the “Rib eye.” Imagine our alarm when we served what looked to be a strip steak. We mentioned it to the server and she quickly corrected us, insisting that it was indeed a rib eye steak. Now I am no stranger to this business, and do not need to recount my resume to justify that I was not served a rib eye steak. Let’s just say that for one it was far too lean. When I pointed this out to her she said that it was marbled with fat. I nearly went cross-eyed. When I asked her to demonstrate the marbling effect on my piece, she said that the chef must have trimmed the marbling. That ranks easily as the top five stupidest things I’ve ever heard. Furthermore, any chef with a head for food costs would be foolish to buy a rib eye steak, only to trim away the fat that gives it its entire flavor. Even now, recounting this, I’m incensed.
Since we left without desert, after paying roughly $75 per person for two courses a bottle of wine, and a cocktail, I am unable to comment on the dessert menu. And why bother? If you are reading this I highly recommend you steer clear of Dressler. Believe me; you can admire the only nice thing about it from the street.
1 day ago
