I was looking forward to experiencing Esca for the first time and took a good friend there for her birthday. At first we appreciated the atmosphere and what seemed at first like attentive service, though we were a little put off by the loud rock music, which seemed at odds with the atmosphere. Unfortunately, when our entrees arrived, my friend was brought the wrong order: a fish neither of us never heard of and would never order. When we called the waitress back to the table, she was quickly intercepted by the maitre'de, who implied that we were being untruthful about not ordering this fish. (Hmm...maybe the loud music kept our waitress from heaing us??) I politely insisted I knew what I had ordered, and requested they take place the wrong dish and bring back the correct one. The Maitre'de pressured us to taste the wrong dish, and argued with me to keep this rather than send it back. The exchange became slightly intimidating but I refused to keep a dish we hadn't ordered, and never received an apology from the maitre'de for the mistake. I am sympathetic to waitstaff and understand mistakes happen...but not to restaurants who have their maitre'de's behave like thugs. That's just fishy.
Pros: Fresh fish and unique preparation
Cons: Ugly service incident
more