B44

So a couple of friends and I had a DAT dinner last night at B44 and it was a complete disappointment. The food was mediocre and the service was horrible.

My menu was as follows:
First Course - duck confit
Second Course - Paella Dine About Town (Saffron rice / chicken / squid / mussels)
Third Course - Crema Catalana

The duck confit was prepared over truffle infused green lentils. While...+READ So a couple of friends and I had a DAT dinner last night at B44 and it was a complete disappointment. The food was mediocre and the service was horrible.

My menu was as follows:
First Course - duck confit
Second Course - Paella Dine About Town (Saffron rice / chicken / squid / mussels)
Third Course - Crema Catalana

The duck confit was prepared over truffle infused green lentils. While the duck was tasty, it was on the dry side. And if you're use to duck confit as prepared by the French, this is not it. Perhaps the Spanairds prepare it differently than the French. The lentils were good, not overcooked.

The paella was a big disappointment. It was overcooked, absolutely no liquid remaining, and sticking to the pan. The seafood consisted of four mussels and squid that you needed a magnifying glass to see. If the rice was saffron infused, you definitely could not tast it as the tomato base used to cook the rice overwhelmed the whole dish.

The highlight of the evening was the Crema Catalana. The carmelized crust was perfect. And although the egg custard had a slight lemon flavor, there was no hint of caramel anywhere.

Finally, the service left much to be desired. We arrived at 6pm and were seated outside. However, the overwhelming stench of sewer forced us into the restaurant on a beautiful night. After we were seated inside, the waitress kept pressing us for our drink and food orders, as if she was trying to rush us through our meal, even though the restaurant was almost empty. Than the drinks took 10-15 minutes to arrive at the table, even though, once again, the restaurant was almost empty. Then my friend ordered the steak option medium. When it came, the steak was almost well done with only slight hints of pink and too dry. In order to make the steak more palatable, my friend asked the overly anxious waitress for additional sauce. As we completed our meal, the waitress never brought the sauce. When my friend asked a waiter for additional sauce, he tried to tell her that this would be a complete mistake as it would drown the steak. My friend explained however that the steak was overcooked and too dry and needed some sauce and he proceeded to argue with her about whether the steak was cooked properly or not. After the bill came, the waitress completely disappeared. Having spent several hundred dollars for dinner, you think she would have the courtesy to come back at least once to see if we needed anything else. The poor service downgraded the restaurant from a two- to one- start review.

I would definitely say skip B44 on your DAT. While most restaurants participate in DAT in order to attract repeat customers, I would definitely NOT return to B44 after this experience.-COLLAPSE / REPLY (19 Replies) (by real_good_food_lover, created June 8, 2010)