mise en place

best in class.serviceis spectacular, food always excellent and it’s a wonderful place for business or a great date.

my family took me here for my 45th birthday. the restaurant very nice elegant and theserviceis superb. i had the sampler which is a five course meal which is very good. i asked the waiter if i could swap out the hanger steak for ahi tuna. he came back and cheerfully told me the chef would be more than happy to do that. everything was beautiful and tasty. my girlfriend had the fried green tomato salad which is really yummy and the salmon. the salmon was very bland but artistically crafted to please the eyes. the waiter seemed to rush us to decide our entrees. he seemed snooty and rude at times but he's been working at this restaurant for 18 years and i see this happen in these upscale fine establishments all the time. overall everything was superb theservicewas impeccable. at the end of the night they gave us a free glass of complimentary champagne and i got a birthday dessert. i definitely will be back.

good. not great. here's a .... good. not great.
here's a couple specifics...
they had no reservations available on a saturday night except for 5:30 or 9pm. we chose 5:30pm and watched the restaurant fill to less than 50% capacity and stay that way thru 7pm.
the rack of lamb and veal scallopini were ok. the grits with the lamb were amazing! we had the pork belly and salmon carpaccio apps. the salmon was house smoked and delicious. theservicewas very good. they even brought us complimentary glass of champagne when we told them we were celebrating out anniversary.
the food andservicewas good....but for the price it should've all been exceptional.

took our son here for his 21st birthday, food andservicevery good, house speciality lamb entree was good but over cooked (more medium than medium rare) but still tasty . nice relaxed atmosphere for more a la carte restaurant.

not up to par. my husband and i recently visited mise en place to celebrate our anniversary. we had a gift certificate from my son and decided to use it for this special occasion. the food, overall, was pretentious but ineffective. my oyster starter consisted of three battered, lukewarm, grossly oversauced oysters. the flavor of the oysters was totally obscured by the oversweet garnish. the crab salad was woefully lacking in crab and the dressing was bland, needing salt and vinegar. my husband had the calamari, which consisted of 1/2 inch wide calamari rings floating in some kind of strangely sweet broth. he gave me one to taste and it had the texture of a rubber band. i had to remove the piece from my mouth, since i couldn't chew it. my husband, bless him, soldiered bravely on. the rack of lamb entrée had a bitter taste (the tea crust?) and the accompanying yuca was buttery but lumpy. i sent the entrée back due to the cold onion rings. . . the dessert, crème brulee, was adequate but small, with a black ring around the bottom of the ramequin. i can only hope that the ring was composed of vanilla bean seeds . . . the strawberry "soup" was grainy and weak in flavor. theservicewas attentive at first and then dwindelled to minimal. my husband had the "kobe" beef steak and was presented with a 1/2" thick, small, non-remarkable piece of beef. even with the billing as kobe, it felt like a rip-off. after a dinner of $150 (gift certificate) plus $40 of our own money, we were not satisfied. i have eaten at the french laundry, la espadrille, rick bayless' topolobampo, and many other fine restaurants. this is a restaurant that has undeserved delusions of grandeur.

pretty plating, as you will see from the photos, but that's about it. if this dinner were a race, and all the dishes were runners, then they would all have broken their legs and torn their acls just feet in front of the finish line. by this, i mean they were all headed in the right direction, but all lacked something to really set them apart and put them over the top. i like this type of dining, but in my opinion the menu was too big and just felt like there was too much going on. it showed in the end as nothing was really stupendous, but all was just okay. ourservicewas good at first, but sort of fizzled out towards the end of the meal. overall not worth the price tag in the end.

great food..service not so much..... excellent food, attention to detail is amazing! light well prepared and appropriately sized entrees.

everyone in our party order the grilled red snapper (2 ordered “zahtar”), some with skin on and some with skin off. the skin is charred off and helps the fish maintain moisture. the sides were great, brocolini and grits.

the only area for improvement is the 18% gratuity on parties of “5” or more. come on, five people does not constitute a large party. it would be nice for the diners to be able to exercise discretion and tip asservicemerits. our server seemed put out by some of our detailed questions (related to health/religious dietary restrictions), forgot some of our appetizers, did not recommend/suggest any sides (we quickly realized we needed them when our entrees arrived) and was generally non-attentive (on a slow night). i can only speculate he lacked motivation (for his $55 tip). we asked how large the appetizers where and he stated “it is a matter of perspective” and offered very little to explain portion sizes. this is somewhat puzzling in that he forgot to put one of our appetizers in and said we would be good with three for the entire party (when two appetizers arrived).

all in all an amazing experience because of the food. definitely go and order the soft shell crab appetizer.

amazing food and service!. my husband and i dined here on friday night. we sat at a high top in the bar and ordered a variety of first and second courses. the lobster mac and cheese was to die for, and our server/bartender, nate, was the best! he went out of his way to accommodate our requests and ensured we had a great experience. i am never disappointed by mise en place. the good andserviceare second to none!

very good. we went for a birthday dinner. we ordered the tasting menu with the wine pairing. it was very good food, probably one of the better meals i've had in tampa bay, which i find to be severely lacking in this particular genre. theservicewas fine, although the head waiter did have to slow our server down at one point (we got out of a 5 course meal in 2 hours!). the final course was a pear tart of sorts. generally, that sort of thing wasn't my or my so's cup of tea, but it was phenomenal. that, i think, was the moment i decided the restaurant blew me away, they served us something neither of us ever would have tried and generally don't like and we both cleaned our plates. the execution and the flavor profiles are brilliant. its expensive, but that's to be expected. i would definitely go again.

i'm guessing my expectations were too high, since food is quite pricey. it was nicely presented andservicewas exceptional, but food just good. oh yeah, anchovie martinis are great there.

excellent. had dinner here with some work colleagues recently. menu required quite a bit of reading & deciphering, but man, the food was delicious! some in our party "got blitzed" and raved about every dish brought out, from first plate to dessert. i opted for the butternut squash salad - outside my "usual" fare, but delicious - and the free range chicken, which was excellent as well. the dulce de leche pot de creme was the perfect end to my meal. i don't drink, so i can't comment on the wine selection, but everything else was great -servicewas good and timing was spot on.

overpriced. very salty and heavy. awfulserviceby the guy in the lounge. no thanks

wonderful place. this place is one of my favorites. yes, some of the dishes are quite small but the flavors are right on spot and so flavorful, and some quite rich, that you really dont' need more then that.

i think americans are too accustomed to large portions of cheap food and doggie bags to go. this place offers neither and it's all the better for it.

they could step up the wine list a little and a rotating menu would be nice. everytime we go it's the same specials and same menus, but that being said, the menu choices are amazing, theservicespectacular, and the atmosphere is very nice.

a nice date place.

go-to fine dining destination. i have gone to mise en place many times over the years, and have loved it every time. it's fine dining at its best if you know what to look for. well executed, thoughtful dishes with portions just large enough for a taste (except the entree's, these are more traditionally sized). theservicehas always been exceptional with multiple waiters who are knowledgeable about the wine menu and how the dishes are prepared. if you are looking for an exceptional meal and are tired of steak's from bern's, go to mise en place!

expecting more!. i had been here in the past for business lunches and decided to go for dinner. surprisingly, the only dinner specials were soups. we had the french onion soup which was about average for any deli. we then had the foie gras appetizer which was tasty but a very small portion for the cost. it was maybe three bites. for entrees we had the rack of lamb and a snapper dish that were quite good. a big disappointment was the chef's dessert selection. we were recommended to get their chocolate cake. it must have been sitting around for quite a while due to it's dryness. two bites later we were done. we had no less than four different waiters during the course of the meal. for the price of this meal, goodservicewith refilled cocktails and iced teas would have been expected. i understand that a larger party arrived after us that took all of their efforts, but really! when you spend in excess of $200 on a meal for two you should at least get good service!