One of the absolute best things about living in the bay area is being so close to Napa and Sonoma. (Mostly,
I like the easy access to a large selection of wine!) There is such a plethora of wineries that I am always on the lookout for some amazing places to go. Because of this, I got a few recommendations from some friends recently on wineries to visit on a recent weekend up north. (Food recommendations are always welcome as well, so always feel free to contact me with them or post them in the comments!) Everyone seemed to have different recommendations for wineries to try, but one of the restaurants that almost everyone agreed upon was The Girl and the Fig. I tried to make a booking for a Saturday night, but alas it was not meant to be. They did have plenty of space for brunch the next day, so I quickly grabbed an early afternoon reservation and searched for a Saturday night destination for dinner.
We arrived on Sunday, and because it was too hot to be outside, we were shown to a table for two in a very packed restaurant. Where we immediately felt ignored for awhile by everyone. Finally, the waiter arrived and took our drink orders, and we had two different flights of red wine: One red wine selection of five different wines and one Syrah selection of three different Syrahs. Then our server disappeared. For quite awhile. Then he came back and delivered the wine in a selection of mismatched and impractical wine glasses. I guess it’s “different” to serve wine in what appeared to be wine glasses purchased cheaply from second hand stores, but serving a red wine in an old style champagne coupe is a wine faux pas in my opinion. We now asked for some water at this point, and the waiter left (without taking our food orders by the way), and finally came back about five minutes later with some water, and “graciously” took our food orders. I had heard amazing things about the duck liver mousse, so we ordered some to try as a starter, and I went with the quiche lorraine (I’m a huge fan) and my partner opted for the mussels.
While we were drinking some average red wines, we waited quite a long time for the mousse to arrive. Luckily, the bussers were finally wandering around with water pitchers, so we didn’t need to try to hunt down our increasingly absent server for water. Finally, our mousse arrived, and in all honesty, everything just looked a bit thrown on the plate. The toast looked very squashed and there were piles of crumbs strewn across the plate like a mouse had attacked the bread before it reached our table. And how was the mousse? Average. It somehow managed to have very little flavor, and the house made brandy plum jam served with it clashed severely and left an unpleasant aftertaste in my mouth, so I didn’t eat any more of that after the first try. I can make a far better mousse than this, and combined with the lackluster service, it felt like there was a sort of blase sense that because they have been in business for 20 years and are well known, they can rely on being recognized and no longer have to provide decent service or food to their customers. It didn’t really leave much hope for the mains.
After they cleared our plates, it felt like we waited quite a long time for our main courses. Even the waiter mentioned they’d be up soon, and then he promptly disappeared for another 10-15 minutes before finally arriving with our plates of food. I was quickly questioned about the temperature of my food by my partner, as the top of his mussels (and his toast) was very cold. Luckily, mine was still alright, but he was very frustrated that our food was clearly sitting there completely ready to be served for long enough to get cold before being brought out to us. He said the broth was still hot, and managed to reheat the mussels in it, but he gave up on the cold toast. He felt that if the food came out hot, he would have been very happy with the cooking of mussels and the flavor of the broth. My food was strange, however. It was served with a salad of bitter greens with little to no dressing on it so I felt like I was eating dry, bitter salad with a sprinkle of nuts and dried berries on top. Oh, and quinoa. Because that belongs in a salad. The quiche was also really thick, but all the bacon and onions were on the bottom so there was a massive layer of just egg. The fries were really good though. But it’s sad when you get a selection of food and the best thing is something deep fried.
Oh, did I mention the soggy bottom? Any fans of Mary Berry on the Great British Bake Off (or Baking Show in the U.S.) will know that she is not a fan of soggy bottoms. This usually happens when the pastry is undercooked. Mine was basically raw. It’s pretty much cooking 101 to know that you have to parbake the pastry crust enough that it will get crispy after you put in the wet filling. It’s pretty sad that a restaurant of this level of reputation is making basic errors that I don’t even make at home. (My quiche is definitely better.) Maybe they need to move out of the food world from 20 years ago and enter 2017? I don’t know. Just don’t get the quiche, unless you like raw dough, okay?
Interestingly enough, the server was really attentive to the table next to us, even as much asking them if they wanted still, sparkling or tap water (which we had to ask for) and telling them about the specials. I didn’t even know there were specials, because he was never really at our table and barely said anything to us. Needless to say, I can’t recommend this restaurant based on the service or the food because both were pretty amateurish and not something you would expect from a restaurant that has been there for 20 years. Although I think they have fallen into the trap of being there for 20 years so they can just do things half-assed and still get clientele in based on their name. I won’t be back. I won’t recommend anyone coming here. There’s a restaurant with better food, better wine (in better wine glasses) and far better service on the other side of the plaza that should be your first destination for food if you are visiting Sonoma, but that is a blog post for another time.
The Girl and the Fig
110 West Spain Street
Sonoma, CA 95476
Food: ★☆☆☆☆
Service: ★☆☆☆☆
Atmosphere: ★☆☆☆☆
Value: ★☆☆☆☆
Overall: ★☆☆☆☆
What a bummer! I can’t believe a place so reputable would mess up in so many significant areas! Your waiter sounds like The Worst.
It’s weird. I really have no idea how it could be wrong on so many levels. I do get a weird amount of satisfaction about being able to write up bad reviews sometimes though. Is that wrong?