over rated; terrible, just terrible!. the chef’s table in winter garden was open for a mother’s day brunch this year, and was supposed to feature and ‘authentic new orleans' themed ‘brunch”. we made reservations for 4 people, via opentable, and within a few hours, the hostess (carrie), called to tell me that opentable had messed up, and that our time was not available, would we be okay with later that afternoon... then we were asked for our credit card information, because this would be a ‘pre-paid’ event... okay we can do that, but then later in the week, i get a call from another person, paul, who tells me that we need to pre-pay or our reservation would be cancelled. i called carrie back and asked why i got this message, since my credit card had already been charged for the full amount? well they are a little disorganized i am told. not a good sign of things to come!
what is normally expected for a mothers day ‘event’ like this, is to be warmly greeted, with a mimosa and maybe a flower for the mothers... instead, when we arrived, there were a lot of people waiting in the front for their tables, and surprisingly, we didn’t get a nice “happy mothers day” welcome greeting. instead, the hostess had a crumpled up handwritten notebook page full of scribbled names on it, that she was using for the reservation list and seating, and it really appeared that they were totally in the weeds. they had us wait at the bar, but no bartender came... we finally asked, and were told they would come in a minute. still no one. finally my wife goes back to the bar and asks, and she gets to play waiter, bringing the drinks to the table. after 15 minutes we get seated, in the far back room, dark, with no windows. we wait for about 10 minutes before the waitress finally comes to day hi, and asks about drinks, and walks us through the menu.
appetizer’s were served ‘family style’. the flatbread with a pinch of salmon was soggy & stale, and the salad was tiny. the new orleans style beignets were brought.... which looked horrible and so disappointing to eat; almost inedible they were so hard, chewy, you could just barely use a knife to get through them. we left a few on the plate.
the main course came, and the new orleans style eggs benedict using egg, on pulled pork, on cornbread with sauce, was a nice sounding dish.... except it arrived completely cold, and then used a fried egg instead of the promised poached one (details?). also, the fried potatoes that came with it, tasted like they came out of a frozen bag, and they didn't seem like they had seasoning at all. for the other dish, the veal cutlets were tiny over just a little bit of grits, no garnish, no extras at all. the cutlets tasted as bland as the dish looked.
when desert came, the banana’s foster came with a croissant instead of ice cream, and although that sounded nice, the croissants were not fresh or warm, therefore they were as chewy and tough as the beignets they had brought earlier. the bread pudding was tiny, but tasty, but again, no pizzazz to the presentation, or to the taste.
considering how highly rated this restaurant is supposed to be, it was a disorganized, mess, which we will never, ever repeat. the best part of the meal was when the check came, and we got to leave.