Highly rated on Yelp we thought we'd try Palate for our date night. Since the website & Yelp state a reservation is highly recommended, we did.
We arrived 15min early for our reservation and there was one other couple there. We were given a choice on where to sit and chose the wall booth. The woman who seated us was kind and shared the curated wine list and her favorites on the menu.
We had already decided we'd just try a couple sharable plates and skip an entree. I chose a glass of Pinot Noir while my hubby ordered his favorite Old Fashioned. The wine pour was a generous portion and the Old Fashioned was served in a very smoky fashion, but the taste was just okay.
+ Rustico Meatballs - being dairy free, these were for my hubby. We laughed when they arrived at they were average size meatballs but they had been cut in half and there were 2.5, HALF meatballs in the bowl! What happened to the other half of the third meatball? We giggled over what may have happened to it. They tasted okay, but nothing special and we were glad we were not sharing them as it was really only two meatballs, plus the half.
+ Tuscan Hummus + extra blistered flatbread - I'm so glad I ordered the extra bread! The veggies were fresh and tasty, but not enough to eat the generous portion of hummus provided. The flatbread was yummy and warm and a great accompaniment to the hummus. The hummus was good, not great or special, but good.
+ Mac & Cheese, add bacon - before my hubby ordered this he asked if he could add a meat to make it more hearty. After the two meatballs he was still hungry (wink). He was told he could add bacon to the dish, and that sounded great. The mac & cheese was portion was okay, but the taste was pretty bland and it wasn't actual bacon pieces, but more like bacon bits added in. Pretty disappointing.
+ Patattas Bravas - I like spicy so this dish sounded tasty. My nose was running instantly and once my tongue took a break I tried to taste the different flavors separately as the sauce overwhelmed the dish. There were maybe 8 breakfast potato cubes in the sauce and they were drizzled with the lemon garlic aoili, which was good and I wished there was more of that & less sauce. Individually the items were good, but together the spicy sauce overwhelmed it all.
Our service was great, kind and offered a smile all night long. The ambiance was creative, welcoming and the live music was really nice too. We could see this as a great wine bar or happy hour spot, but won't be back for a date night.