save yourself! go somewhere else!. my husband i and i went here with a friend for her birthday. i had never been so i didn't know what to expect. well i found out the atmosphere is lovely, but the food and service are awful. the food was so bad that i have been moved to write a review in attempt to warn others.
atmosphere: the outdoor seating is really a strong point. the weather was beautiful.
service: lacking. was unable to get a water refill, eventually had to run down the waiter and specifically ask for one. that was the only one i received. interestingly he did stop by frequently and refill our wine. took forever to get a check. waiter was actually very knowledgeable about the menu/wines when we were able to flag him down with a question. service was not engaging or friendly. i'm not sure if they are going for 'fine-ish' dining, by the prices i assume so, but the service was no where close.
food: just flat out, my experience was awful. we started with an order of the calamari, it was very very rubbery and tasted as if it had been frozen. the marinara on the side was passable, though not great. for the main course, my husband and i both ordered the duck special. it was described as a seared duck breast with a pomegranate reduction sauce, rice and roasted vegetables. what i received was a very very overcooked/tough piece of duck swimming in a very very sweet sauce, absolutely plain white rice, approximately three chunks of cold and under-cooked roasted potato, and two pieces of very bland brussel sprouts. i had a lot difficultly cutting the duck with provided knife. it was very chewy and there was a lot of un-rendered fat. i love duck, this duck was just abused.
since it was my friend's birthday, and she wanted a small dessert to split, we did then go for the 'pot of chocolate' which is basically a little lava cake with some ice-cream on top. it was the best part of the entire meal. not because it was good, but because it wasn't bad. it was just chocolate cake with ice-cream. but the mediocrity was welcome after such an awful main course.
other notes:
the wine was reasonably priced by the bottle. i wasn't really impressed with their bottle selection, but it wasn't really bad either.
pricing on the food was extremely high however, considering what i received was basically 'fancy' cafeteria food. i have absolutely no problem paying for good food, even paying a lot for good food, but i went home angry that i had to spend money on this meal.
save yourself. go to the multitude of other wonderful local restaurantsbirminghamhas to offer. hell, go to olive garden before going here.