April's dinner was at
Araka in Clayton. I personally wasn't too thrilled about the restaurant choice, as I haven't had very good experiences there in the past. But twas host Tyler's choice, so let's roll with it. I think there was again around 10 of us in attendance. We did have a nice table set up for us and were seated on time. The restaurant itself is beautifully decorated and very high class in appearance - the bathroom even wows. But sadly, the restaurant reminds me of a Monet painting: at a distance, the setting looks beautiful and inviting, but when you take a closer look, it's kind of a mess.
First disappointment was the menu. I should have counted but I honestly think there were no more than 8 items to choose from, and nothing sounded all that great, especially for the price. And the menu we were given didn't match the menu shown on their website. Just as an example/warning, the online menu shows four pizza options, and in the restaurant there was only one pizza choice. In addition, our wine recommendation from Jackie Olinger was not on the restaurant menu anymore. Our server excused these errors by saying that the dinner menu had just changed that day, but I'm looking at the site now, 3 weeks later, and the menu has still not been updated. So many people like to look at restaurant menus online beforehand, this is a simple thing that can be easily updated.
Moving on, as we placed our orders, we found some things were no longer available as the restaurant ran out of ingredients - one being spinach. I can understand this to an extent, but spinach can be easily acquired from any one of the many grocers in a 5 mile radius of the restaurant. I ordered a salad and pizza.
Next up - let's eat....or maybe not...let's wait...and wait....and....wait. It took forever for us to get our food. And this has happened to our group before on a trip to Araka. I was seated at 7 p.m. and didn't leave until around 10 p.m. and that was without having dessert. I'm not sure why there is always such a wait....especially because the restaurant is never full.
The food at Araka is of high quality, but due to a lack of variety, and all these obstacles that seem to arise any time I patronize Araka, I'd rather go to any number of other local restaurants with just as, if not better, food. I have a feeling this is why Araka is always sparsely occupied. The only area that was hopping was the bar, which was packed by the time I left. This must be what is keeping Araka in business. Our server did a decent job... I almost felt pity for him, almost like he was used to the complaints and so much of the restaurant problems were out of his control. I've also heard many others complain about service at Araka, so I hate to go on and on about this, but maybe we'll inspire improvement. They have the bones for a good restaurant: quality food, beautiful ambiance, but stops short after that. So unfortunately for now, I'm going to rate them with 2 out of 5 spoons. What's your take on Araka? Let us know - rate and post comments below!
