06/27/07

What kind of place do you want to be?

by zueco

I have to say that I do really enjoy the experience of dining at this restaurant and have been there numerous times. I will share a few of my constant irritations with you however. The place is rather small and intimate which you would think lends an air of romance to the scene. This kind of upscale place is sorely needed in Chandler. Their problem however is that they are trying to combine 5 concepts into one small space. There is a patio which is comfortable and hoping with singles, they have a TV blaring sports themes at the bar which is right in the middle of the dining room and sometimes they have a couple singing live music as well. Put all of this together in one small room and you get a lot of disraction from the really fabulous cusine and comfort of the outer booths that could lend to a very romantic encounter with someone you want to spend some intimate time with. The wine list is very good and the food fabulous, but please guys, tone down the happy hour and the sports bar activities and consentrate on what you really do best... food and a nice romantic setting...

• Pros: Great food and wines
• Cons: Noisy and cluttered with too many differnt themes.

06/14/07

great drinks, appetizers even during happy hour small and pricey, server was nice

by foounke

Beware- this review is about our experience at 56 East on an early Monday night when we went for drinks and appetizers during happy hour. The hostess was surprisingly non-snobby, she promptly seated us at the patio-exactly where we wanted to be on a pleasant and warm summer evening. We started off with Mojitos ($5 -a house special on Mondays) - delicious and potent, and only lacked a fresh stick of sugar cane. This was a good sign...we thought. We tried ?Warm Mushroom Brie? a tiny puff pastry filled with warm cheesy goodness. It was much smaller than expected. We should have gotten the hint, but we were eager to try more. We ordered the ?Ceviche,? in a tall martini glass with fried plantains. Plantains were tasteless, not as sweet as hoped. I expected more vibrant flavors, but the seafood didn?t stand out, only tartness of the marinade did. We ordered the ?Crab Cake,? they said it was jumbo, but when it came out it was smaller than my palm, and I have a small palm. Disappointed with the size of the crab cake, we were surprised by the flavor of the crab cake. It was pretty tasty. All of the above appetizers were originally $13 or so, luckily we were there during happy hour so they were about $6. I think I would cry if I ordered them at regular price. Due to the mini-portioned appetizers, we were still a bit hungry. So we tried the ?House Salad? ($8) although I had ordered the Strawberry Salad. It was super tiny and paled in comparison to other restaurants? $8 salads. I think the restaurant could have given us a bit more lettuce. It?s not that expensive is it!?! We also tried ?Seafood Linguini.? The mussels were sweet and yummy, but we were saddened by the smallness. Linguini, the last time I checked at the grocery store was pretty cheap, so I don?t know what their problem is. Tiny, tiny, tiny portions, beware! There?s nothing too special here that other restaurants don?t offer. Other restaurants give you more food for about the same price.

• Pros: service was friendly, nice atmosphere, drinks potent
• Cons: pricey even during happy hour, and small, tiny, mini portions

10/03/06

Don't Bother

by guydownes

We came here 6 months ago and had a wine and cheese evening which was good. In September 2006 things have gone radically downhill - services was bordering on rude and at best bored. Food was so average and overpriced for what was served. The evening was a disaster, this restaurant needs to wake up or customers with many choices will not return - like us.