TheTripChick's Reviews

Can I give Anthos negative stars? Seriously, what a huge waste of time and money. And we had lunch there during Restaurant Week!

First, the service was good - no issues with the service whatsoever. It's the back of the house that needs a complete menu makeover. My beau has the raw meze (fluke) as an appetizer, the roasted sturgeon for his main course, and the honey-poached pear for dessert. I tried the grilled calamari with pork belly as an appetizer, the chicken as my main course,and the chocolate cake with fennel ice cream for dessert. Of everything above, only the pork belly and the fennel ice cream were remotely appetizing or edible.

The fluke was brought to the table with minimal presentation. It appeared that it had arrived straight to the kitchen from the fishmonger and was then slapped on a plate and presented as a legitimate appetizer. It was not sliced or even artfully arranged, it was simply a slab of fish on a plate. Worse, the fish itself had no taste whatsoever and the accompaniments did nothing to enhance the lack of flavor. My grilled calamari and pork belly fared a little better; the pork belly was cooked nicely but the two small pieces of calamari did nothing to conceal the fact that Anthos wasn't putting much into it's Restaurant Week menu.

The sturgeon arrived and looked promising; in fact, the first bite was delicious! However, only the outer ridges were properly cooked, the remaining inside was still raw and cool to the touch. When my beau attempted to fork up a portion from the raw middle, the fish consistency was as mush and killed his appetite completely. My chicken was a little more cooked but still could have used some additional time around a heat source. It didn't have much flavor and was overall bland and forgettable.

We were both looking forward to dessert by that time, and when it arrived we were pleasantly surprised by the nice presentation. Alas, the disappointment continued. The pear had an identical twin out there in the city, hanging out in a can that said Del Monte - although it has less taste than a canned pear. My chocolate cake actually looked more like a brownie and has the amusing consistency of a kitchen sponge. It would have been put to better use scrubbing the toilet. For me, the highlight of my meal was the fennel ice cream. It had a wonderful delicate flavor, and I generally don't prefer the taste of fennel.

We left the restaurant giggling to ourselves and headed for the nearest street vendor to get lunch.