My wife and I stopped in for a late Saturday lunch, around 3pm, dressed from having just come from a friend's wedding. After being seated, it seemed to take a very long time before we even saw a menu. Although there were at least five waitstaff visible, none seemed to be very engaged in serving either us or the other diners, the only others being a family with young children. The wait for our meal was entirely too long, and our meal only appeared shortly after I suggested that the burger joint down the street would, by then, be an acceptable alternative. My wife's chicken salad was very good, and my grilled salmon with arugula and tomatoes was very tasty, but was probably the thinnest piece of salmon I've ever been served. The fact that my salmon was also served at a temperature not much above that of the room made me wonder why it could not have been served sooner. This was a Saturday-afternoon lunch, not an evening dinner where an "appropriately-civil" lapse of time between courses would have made for a pleasant dining experience - I'm not sure how the young waitstaff mistook our lunch for anything else. "Casual" dining is one thing, but having to wait due to indifference and inattentiveness is an entirely different matter. In the Houston area, the senior Mr. Vallone has enjoyed a long and well-deserved reputation as a fine restaurateur. It's a shame that the service we encountered today is such a poor reflection upon this legacy.
Pros: great bread, tasty entrees
Cons: attention to service
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