Urban Pear

The Urban Pear for simply elegant food in an unpretentious and relaxing atmosphere. Go!

I am writing because even after 3 months, I am still outraged about our dining experience.

My wife and I ordered martinis (one gin, one vodka) as before-dinner-drinks. To my surprise, my drink tasted watered down; before I told my wife, she told me hers tasted watered down too! So we flagged the waiter, and he insisted we were wrong, the drinks were fine. In a patronizing tone he explained that "when you make a martini, the ice in the shaker melts a bit". Ah. Hmmm. I have made (and possibly consumed!) thousands of martinis in my lifetime, and I know a watered down drink when I taste it. The waiter made no effort to appease us - we paid the full $9/drink (for 1 oz of standard booze!). Since wifey and I were out to celebrate our anniversary, I did not raise a fuss at the dinner. Howevever, when we returned home that night I tracked down the owner's email address and told him of our experience. He just said "sorry, I hope you come again". Fat chance.

After a bit of thought, it occurred to me - most people at the restaurant were drinking fancy Urban Pear martinis (or similar fruity martinis) - no one was actually drinking straight martinis apart from us. In the bottle, gin and vodka are perfect candidates for watering down as they look like water in the first place. So my bet is someone at the restaurant was sneaking booze and replacing with water. The majority of the patrons wouldn't know because their drinks had other things in them.

So, to recap: Terrible service. Mediocre food. And we were ripped-off! You would be wise to avoid this restaurant.