Park

Sometimes Katie and I go to the same place at different times and have completely different experiences. Park on Henderson is one of those stories; I will be interested to see what she has to say in rebuttal.

We took our good friends P&K to Park to celebrate K's b-day this week. I called ahead for a rez, but they only take them for parties of six or more. The guy assured me wait time would be minimal at seven on a Wednesday. Turns out he was an un-truther.

To begin, the valet was so full they couldn't manage our car. They asked us to back up into traffic on Henderson and to pull into the lot across the street. Parking my car with the valet across the street was the first item to give me pause.

We entered the restaurant, which is admittedly cute, and the wait list fellow tells us that it will be about 20 minutes. Half of us take a seat at the bar, which is super loud and more than crowded. An hour later we check on our table - we are next. Yeah.
Thirty minutes later....we are still next.
A total of two hours later....at nine o'clock...we are finally seated. I know, I know...why didn't we just leave? We should have. That is ridiculous. But after an hour, we were committed.

When we were finally seated, we ordered cokes and The Meze Platter:
Black bean Hummus, Babaganoush, Tabouleh salad & grilled flatbread. Super disappointed. Even the Greek food eaters at our table made sad faces. No one finished it, despite our starving status.

We ordered, they didn't have the grilled cheese listed on the menu...cool. Then our waiter disappeared. Maybe he was tending to the honeybees that Park sustains on the roof, which is actually kind of cool? Or maybe he was filling up the compost pile that Park also believes in? I don't know. I do know that he was absent so that cokes weren't refilled and waters were left to run dry...diners were left hungry.

I ordered the Park salad, which was delicious when it finally came....during hour 3.5. The chicken breast was impeccably seasoned and the salad was scrumptious. The others in my party, however, were disappointed for cost vs. quality of the meal. Mini-tacos for around $15 didn't make anyone at our table happy. The chicken fried steak - were they making up for using a lesser quality of meat by over spicing? Perhaps.

We left around eleven, completely worn out from our four hour ordeal, walked across the street, waited in the valet line, then watched as the valet whipped my car around the corner entirely too fast and almost crashed it into the restaurant. At that point in the evening...whatever. I just wanted to go home!

My opinion is that this place is too busy to visit right now. You might give it a try in a few months when things have kind of settled in and patio dining is more of an option? Or you might skip it.

Happy dining!!