Applewood

My fiancée and I had Sunday brunch here recently. We were attracted by the menu and the crowds outside. Little did we know that this was due to the problems with seating. We arrived at 12:10 pm and told it would be half an hour. At 12:45, we were told we would be seated shortly. We were finally seated at 1:10. An honest answer up front would have gone a long way. The restaurant itself was pretty and well decorated. However, once seated, it took nearly ten minutes for anyone to come to get our drink order. Fortunately, we already knew what we wanted to eat and placed our order then. It took fifteen minutes for our drinks to arrive, and at least forty-five minutes for our meals (omelet w/ fruit, omelet w/ veal hash, bacon & sausage). This was rather ironic, since there were at least five people working the kitchen, which was one cook for every two tables. The meal itself was mixed. The applewood bacon and maple fennel sausage were good, as was the orange bellini. It's tough to mess up scrambled eggs. The biscuit was decent, but nothing to write home about. The grits were good, but >very< buttery. The veal hash would have been decent, had it not been burned in the pan. There were several burn pieces and the dish was overwhelmed a burnt taste. Poor showing. Service continued to be incredibly slow. Our water was filled once over an hour after we were seated, despite the fact that I drank my water in the first fifteen minutes. No one asked whether we wanted another round of drinks until we were ready to leave. Adding insult to injury was the tab, which came to $50 for two. Far too much for so little. As for our server, there was a reason you only got a $6 tip. more

I must admit, I'm completely mystified by the other review. I've been to applewood at least six times and can't think of a meal that didn't hit the mark in every way. I love the room (very warm and understated, like a Vermont inn), the servers are professional yet approachable (never seen more than three in a night), and the food! the food! the food! While portion sizes aren't (thankfully) comparable to Outback Steakhouse, they are thoughtfully chosen to allow a comfortable three-course meal. PERFECTION! more

I went to Applewood for a graduation dinner. I wanted to try something new. The decor was ok, warm and cozy but simple and New Englandy. A friend of mine who's also a restauranteur , called it "a Disneyland decor" (I'm thinking that's not a good thing). Talk about over rated. I kept thinking we should have gone to iCi (off DeKalb Ave in Ft. Greene). They had 5 servers, 6 staff in the kitchen, half as many tables as iCi, and they still couldn't get the food to the table hot or even crack a frikin' smile for our $300+ table. The flavor pairings were nothing special or even interesting. I had the "pan roasted new york state venison: rapini, milk poached garlic puree, venison thyme sauce" which arrived cold and tasted a lot like...garlic. My fiance had the tasting menu which included a Lobster Broth in an espresso cup, some salad I forget and a skate dish, which was hot and hinted that the coldness was the servers fault, but the skate size was so tiny (i mean skate is like 79 cents a pound from a fishmonger -1.29 if it's filleted) and the wilted cabbage underneath made the dish fall flat. My fiance's mother had their "roasted Vermont suckling pig" which mind as well have been microwaved or perhaps was it was so tough. My Mom and Step-Dad ordered their "roasted beet salad" which confused all of us when it tasted as if it had been pickled in the sherry vinaigrette. By the way I've decided you can measure a seasonal restaurant by the quality of their beet salad (if they have one) and theirs tasted like pickled beets out of a can, and the roasted pistachios and grapefruit confit didn't help. I've heard that a common complaint is their portion sizes are too small and coming from Americans I usually take that with a grain of salt, but...their portion sizes are too small. Their prices were comparable to iCi, but the dishes didn't reflect a comparable value. Applewood made me realize again all the things iCi and Chef Julie E. Farias are doing right. Applewood could learn a lot from iCi, and iCi could stand the press that Applewood gets. more