Mildred’s Temple Kitchen was a disappointment

Mildred Temple Kitchen was an exciting place for me.  I am always excited to try a new restaurant;  I love food and this one came recommended.

The décor is simple but elegant and light. There is lots of concrete with HUGE windows which let in a large amount of light.  It’s open concept, has funky lighting and seemed to be very hip.  The interior has a slight retro feel to it, although that might also be the 70’s and 80’s music playing through the speakers.

We went on a Friday evening after work it was to be our starter event before we walked up to a tequila bar.  We arrived a little before our reservation, but were shown to our table anyway.  The restaurant hadn’t officially opened so we were prepared to be patient.  When we were given the choice between sitting inside or on the patio, we chose inside thinking it would be cooler but the air conditioning was broken.  We didn’t get told this until after we’d sat and ordered drinks.  It was a telling augury to the disappointment that was to be our dinner.

We started by ordering drinks. I went straight for the booze because Mildred’s charges for water. “But it’s reverse osmosis water!”, I hear you cry.  Who fucking cares, it’s water. That should have been another clue as to the type of establishment this was.  I tried two different drinks.  The first was the sangria.  It was really a beautiful drink, with the soft pink colour and sprig of green for contrast.   The taste was so-so, but it had a branch of rosemary in it and I love rosemary.  It could have stood to be sweeter.

The second drink I tried was the Brazillionaire.  A lime and brown sugar muddled with Kraken Rum and Soda.  It was sweeter than the sangria, but not nearly as pretty. It was also very boozy, which I suppose I should have expected given the Kraken.  I did like the way they had little twists on the normal drinks and it made for some interesting beverages; for example a pumpkin spiced martini or the Caesar with fresh horseradish.

We didn’t order appetizers, since we were going out to another bar after this.  I should have ordered more, but given the appetizers were not cheap; $16 for a Caesar salad, $6 for French fries I didn’t want to blow the whole evening’s budget at the first place. I also didn’t order appetizers because the special sounded out of this world and I didn’t want to wait.

The special we were told was an elk steak cooked medium rare with an arugula pesto on a chestnut pilaf with a large scallop, wild mushrooms and truffle chips. It sounded so good that three of the five of us ordered the same thing.  Unfortunately, that was not what we got.

What we got had some of the same ingredients…  There was a steak and it was medium rare, although it didn’t taste very gamey so I have no idea if it actually was elk.  Rather than a pesto there was arugula leaves  scattered on top.  While there wasn’t a pilaf there was something starchy….I think it was polenta?  There was definitely a scallop though and mushrooms although the truffle chips were nowhere to be found.

When we mentioned to our server that what she brought us, was not what was described she was very blasé about it. We pointed out there were no chips, which was one the main reasons I ordered the dish, and that there was no pesto or pilaf.  She went away to talk to the chefs about the missing items and returned to tell us the special had changed.  If I wasn’t with people from work I would have sent the dish back and walked out.  You can’t change someone’s meal without talking to them about it first!

One of our party kindly suggested that perhaps instead of the truffle chips she might want to bring some of the frites instead. The waitress went away and returned with a single glass of fries.  Three of us had been cheated on our dinners and she brought one measly serving of fries, unceremoniously dumping it on the table stating, “it’s on me.”

I understand that it is frequently quality over quantity, but for a $32 entrée when it comes to something like potatoes, which are fucking cheap, don’t scrimp.The servings were small and not very filling.   If that is the difference in your restaurant surviving or not, then get a new profession.  It would have been really easy for the server to have turned the evening around for us.  If she had apologized like she meant it, and perhaps brought the table something more than a few sticks of potato it may have ended better.

After our meal was cleared we looked at the dessert menu.  Now, I am pretty serious about desserts.  I believe you can tell a lot about a restaurant by it’s crème brulée.  Temple Kitchen does not have crème brulée, enough said.

I will not be returning to Mildred’s Temple Kitchen.  It is not my kind of place.  The prices are high, and the servings are small.  For the same money I could have had the prix fixe at Jules Bristro, a salad, entrée and dessert, as well as couple of glasses of wine and still had money left over.  I have the sneaking suspicion that this restaurant is a place to be seen, not really a place to eat. Near the heart of Liberty village, they have managed yuppie prices for hipster clientèle.