The Local - Charlottesville

My wife and I went to the local for the first time on Sunday. we were looking forward to it due to reviews and mouth-propaganda. when we arrived, we sat on a very small table for two. the temperature in the restaurant was so cold that we and some other guests wore our moms all the time. the chairs are very uncomfortable, old and munter. but we were there for dinner, not for the chairs. we were told by the waiter that they were known for their beef tenderloin. so my wife ordered it. I ordered the steak fries. when the order of my wife came out, it was carburized on all surfaces. it was a PERFECT medium, rare in, but no one, nor the menu told us it would be charred. my wife tried to cut off all these arguments, but finally abandoned. I asked them to take it back and cook it without the contest. They brought us back the exact same two pieces of meat, but this time it was even more charred, and had given a crazy amount of salt. at this point I asked about the check and we went. I've never had anyone who's been degrading our meal. my steak was hard, but properly cooked. the only bright spot was the French fries. they were wonderful. I cannot express enough, our overwhelming disappointment in this restaurant. this is the first and only meal we had in one of the nicer restaurant 's in charlottesville, that was not pleasant. our official waiter, ji was very nice and polite, but was in training, and his trainer seemed to be investing more to show female guests than in actual training ji . I feel bad for ji as he will have a hard time with it when it is as his mentor. as older couple it was discouraging to get minimal service from this person, and to see how he invested in the younger couple on each side of us. we were completely reduced due to our age.

Great experience and great eating! only at the bottom there are limited parking

The seats in the upper floor are very loud when making reservations, they should allow them to distinguish between top and bottom. would not sit up again, very loud and little ambiente.

Fried cauliflower/Brussels and seafood soup appetizers were excellent. Main dishes were underwhelming. The five spice salmon was dry and relatively tasteless. The stuffed squash came out luke-warm and required re-heating. Thankfully, the pineapple cheesecake helped with a nice ending to the dinner.

A win on all counts. Delicious food, well prepared — we had the spiced shrimp appetizer, mushroom ragout and steak frite. Tasty cocktails. Our server was professional and interesting to chat with. And a bonus: preparing to leave, we walked downstairs and discovered a small band backing up a large number of local acoustic guitar players, each taking a turn at the mic.