Foodie’s Notebook

Of Soup & Service

Sarasota’s Restaurant Suzette gets some things really right.   By Judi Gallagher   Well, it can’t all be good, right? Wait a minute–it should be! While the weather was glorious for outdoor dining and our hopes were high when the onion soup and foie gras were placed on the table at a recent lunch downtown at [...]

February 17, 2009


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Sarasota’s Restaurant Suzette gets some things really right.
 
By Judi Gallagher
 
Well, it can’t all be good, right? Wait a minute–it should be! While the weather was glorious for outdoor dining and our hopes were high when the onion soup and foie gras were placed on the table at a recent lunch downtown at Restaurant Suzette, service was a disappointment. More on that in just a moment- let’s get to the food
 
Here is what I liked:
      The onion soup was terrific and worth a trip back. Bubbly brown cheese crusted the classic French soup with hint of wine is the broth making it the best in town.
      The foie gras, although plate presentation was lacking, was silky and flavorful.

    The croque-madame with a sunny-side-up egg was another classic and perfect for sharing with the rich béchamel sauce lightly browned underneath a perfectly cooked sunny-side-up egg. (Unfortunately, the fruit that came as a side tasted a bit fermented, probably out of a jar- we would have much preferred a slice of fresh melon and some beautiful local fresh strawberries- now in the height of season.)

Fabulous onion soup and very good foie gras make for a trip back.

 
Here is what I didn’t like:

     The service was near painful- we asked our table to be cleared on several occasions and seemed to be constantly asking for silverware as we changed courses.

The ladies toast to lunch out. Hmm…did they ever get their lunch?

      I watched a table of four women out to lunch toast to a special day and quickly watched their spirits evaporate when it took over half an hour for them to be served salads
     The goat cheese and bacon crepe was not good, and when we asked for it to be cleared and told the server we did not care for it she just said, “Damn it,” and walked away-we had to remind her again to clear the unwanted plate.
 

 My advice- go for the onion soup and croque-madame and expect very little from the service. While Restaurant Suzette is open for dinner Tuesday thru Sunday (closed Monday) I need to see much improvement before dropping $27on an entrée.

Well, at least the company was good.

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