I went to Cube fully equipped with a beautiful bottle of wine and an open mind to try the unusual, imported cheeses I had been hearing about. The ambience was pleasant and casual, while the menu seemed basic but promising--offering an array of pastas, pizzas, and daily specials, along with a large volume of cheeses (the list is a little overwhelming there are so many). I am not sure what people are referring to when they describe a complimentary plate of cheese/fig that is served when you first sit down--I was never given this, and instead was served bland, luke warm bread with no butter or accompaniment. Wanting to taste their very best, I asked the waitress to bring us a few of their best cheeses.....and described to her what flavors and textures I enjoy. She arrived with what was a quickly scraped together plate with ity-bitty cheese slivers, a few over ripe, wrinkly grapes, two dried apricots, and two nearly stale crackers. I am not exaggerating--it was pitiful--the Trador Joes down the street would have had a better selection. One of our cheeses was infused with lavender and tasted like it had been drentched in a bottle of perfume, with another was spungy and lacked any kind of flavor. All together--it was so disappointing, and for the hefty price, we truly felt cheated. Still quite hungry, we ordered the tuna/fennel/mandarin salad and porchini mushroom parpadelle---when our $18 salad arrived, we were annoyed to find four small slivers of tuna with a spoon sized mount of shaved fennel and mandarins--probably two or three bites worth. Our parpadelle tasted as though it had come from a can--it was over cooked and lacked any kind of sophistication or freshness. It was so terrible, we took it back and instead ordered another special and the broccolini. Our waitress subsequently mixed up our order and we were instead served a fennel gratin and the broccolini. The broccolini was average, but ironically the one mistake in our dinner was actually the most delicious.
Pros: no corkage fee
Cons: bad food
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