I opted for the Shrimp Pappardelle with roasted mushrooms, asparagus and shellfish cream. I really had high hopes for this dish, but it came swimming in sauce. You could have called it shrimp stew and it would have been more fitting. As far as asparagus goes, I found about 5 small cut up pieces in there. The rest was pasta, shrimp, tomatoes and some mushrooms. What a waste at $21.
My dining companion had the Mushroom Sacchetti Pasta with roasted mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and asparagus in a light Chardonnay sauce and it was pretty much 80% sun dried tomatoes. The pasta was very dense and cheesy, and the sauce was anything but light. There should have been more than 5 small pieces of asparagus to balance out the forest of sun dried tomatoes. $18 for this? I think not.
As far as service goes, it was mediocre at best. We were greeted by the host after waiting for a few minutes at the front. The waiter seemed inexperienced and in a rush to hurry us out. Why? The restaurant wasn't even that busy! One such instance that perturbed me was when he came up to ask me if I was done eating, while I was in MID BITE! Ummm, hello? Does it LOOK like I'm done? Geeez.
This brings me to another thing I've noticed lately about restaurants trying to rush you out. Read my recent experience at Wakasan. Please don't do that. It makes me feel unimportant and that you just care about your next guests. Also, it discourages me from wanting to return or recommend you to others.
In conclusion, skip Pierre Lafond. There are several better dining options on State Street.
Pierre Lafond Bistro
516 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
(805) 962-1455
4 comments:
Those dishes look too creamy. Sorry to hear the service sucks. It's one of my annoyances, too.
Kit- especially in this economy, they should really step up the service.
I've been to Santa Barbara many, many times and I've always thought the dining options were so unspectacular =(. Both dishes look good, and great work with the photos, but too bad the food was disappointing. When you go back, there's a place called Pirahna that you might like. Enterprise Fish Co. (same as the one in SM) is also decent.
D- thanks, i'll keep that in mind for next time.
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