Roman Edirisinghe

Master Accordionist, originally uploaded by romanedirisinghe.

Last night, we got together with a bunch of Nicole’s friends at an Italian restaurant called “Il Dolce Vita,” or the sweet life. Situated in the historically Italian naighborhood of Boston’s North End, the restaurant dishes out an excellent culinary experience coupled with fine wines, live music, and exceptionally generous service, albeit at a lofty price. Glancing at the bill at the end of the night, I was quite thankful there were 10 of us to split it. Had I been dining alone, it would have amounted to a hefty car loan payment! Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself thouroughly. When the old crooning accordion player came to our table during his rounds, I scatted improvised vocal lines with him. He was so into singing that I would occasionally get sprayed with a fine mist of saliva. It was quite a blast. Really, it was. I felt like I was suddenly on the “in.” The food? Well, my scallops were excellent and slightly sweet, but I was disappointed by the shrimp, which were tougher than I expected from an expensive restaurant in a coastal city like Boston. Overall? I had a rippin’ good time, and the food was good. Bring extra money.

If you’re in downtown Milwaukee for lunch and want to be hungry well before dinnertime, consider checking out Nectar.

The service isn’t the friendliest. I’d been in there several times, and I never felt like they actually wanted me in there. Maybe it’s because they knew in advance that I would shred them on my blog.

I ordered a roast beef sandwich, while Nicole picked up an Italian garden sandwich. The sandwiches arrived in plastic containers (no recycling available in the store). The roast beef was neither brown nor red, but grey. Great color for monochromatic art, awful color for food. Nicole ate hers without complaint. Overall, the food was acceptable going down the gullet. It was hours later that the problem revealed itself: we were hungry. A mere 3 hours after we ate the meal, we were ready for some real food.

Nectar’s meals have no substance, and don’t pass my fill-me-up test.

To avoid:
Nectar Espresso Bar & Cafe
(414) 224-8100
708 N Milwaukee St
Milwaukee, WI 53202

This begins my unofficial restaurant review phase. We’ll see how long it lasts.

If you’re ever in Milwaukee’s Third Ward district and have a hankering for some food, do yourself a favor and avoid Sauce at all costs.

I went to Sauce with Nicole on Sunday night. Totally unimpressed. Potentially pretentious atmosphere. Cool art on the walls. The sparse selection of meals were grossly overpriced. No entrees under $20, if I remember properly. But even the most expensive meals can feel worthwhile if the service is superb. Not so in this case. Although our waitress was fine (not excellent), the waiter who brought out our drinks was simply offensive. He managed to spill hot (steaming) water all over our table, and got a drop on me in the process. I kept my mouth shut as I watched his movements, wondering what the damage could have been had the water splashed a couple of inches closer to me. That guy had NO business being a waiter. His hands simply trembled too much. He appeared to be in his mid thirties. Perhaps he had a case of Early Onset Parkinson’s Disease. Nevertheless, I watched him return with a rag, wipe our table, make his way to a pair of not-so-attractive women, and talk to them with a courtesy that ALL his customers deserved.

The appetizers we ordered were fine. Nicole liked the crab cakes. The one I tried contained real crab meat, and was rather tasty. My beet salad had some type of yellow beet I had never seen before (I thought beets were supposed to be blood red), and it was good. The portions were somewhat small, in my opinion. Essentially, the food that we had was fairly good, but not worth the price of crappy service.

Departing, we walked past the Wicked Hop (an aborted choice for the evening). I wished we would have eaten there instead.

To avoid:
Sauce
(414) 224-1480
217 N Broadway
Milwaukee, WI 53202