Penthouse by Harlan Goldstein (Closed)

Item: Penthouse by Harlan Goldstein
Rating: 2
Author: timothyw

64 Reviews

Taste

Decor

Service

Hygiene

Value

2479

Causeway Bay

$201-400

Western Western Restaurant

timothyw

Level2

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Initially, my girlfriend had surprised me with this restaurant saying that many of her friends and colleagues recommended it to which i blindly followed without asking many questions.

My first impressions was that it had more of a bar-feel with several people sitting on stools by the bar; however, it had a dimly lit atmosphere ideal for a romantic meal.

Upon seating, we found our table was poorly positioned literally attached to the till, which surprised me as i guessed this table had been booked in advance and the occasion had been mentioned; expecting the place to be quite full; we decided to be accomodating and not request a move. The casual clothing of several of the staff members (one of whom wore a cap) was slightly unprofessional, considering the Penthouse was suppose to be a fine-dining establishment.

Harlan G's Deviled Crab Cake

The starters were nice apart from the strange flavours of the 3 sauces with the eel and fois gras, that didnt match at all which i considered during my decision to choose it, but i thought i may be surprised; I was not. A plus point was the rich flavour of the fois gras and colouring/flavour of the sear.

44 degree slow-cooked wild salmon steak

Onto the mains, first, i shall mention the 44 degree slow-cooked wild salmon which was moist and very flavourful even though the crispy, dry sausages didn't complement it.

My main issue with this whole meal was the premium-grade Rib-Eye that i requested to be medium-rare. We cut the steak into pieces as we were going to share the steak and found it to be medium in the middle and medium-rare near the edges (as shown in the last photo below). Also, there was also an unsightly piece of fat, which wasn't rendered down or cut away that made me question the quality of the beef.

We immediately raised the problem of the steak being overcooked with the waiter whom checked the till to see how we ordered it. Then, he looked at the steak and said it was medium-rare and cooked evenly all over without even batting an eyelid (contrary to the photo). He also mentioned that many customers didn't eating their steak too rare even though i deliberately ordered medium-rare which means I like my steak on the bloody side not like other customers, apparently. After his blatant lie about the steak, being how i requested; i was stunned by his lack of an apology and denial at any wrongdoing and told him i'd keep the steak to avoid causing trouble and ruining the occasion. But, after further deliberation, we decided to cancel the steak, as the waiter's sociopathic attitude had ruined our confidence in the professional chef's abilities and we didn't want to pay for an overcooked $600 steak.

So, we summoned the waiter once more and told him we'd like to cancel the steak. He stunned us once again with his responses by saying that we couldn't cancel it as we had cut the steak into too many pieces and if it'd been ok if it was only in half; steak's become more cooked the longer you leave them at room temperature (only true in the first 5-10 mins after cooking when the steak should be resting). Also, his final response was we had waited too long (5 more mins at most) and there's apparently, a time limit on when u can cancel food that hasn't been eaten and isn't cooked correctly (remember to take your stopwatches).
After several minutes of arguing with this 'waiter', he finally agreed to cancel the steak without apology, but we were no longer in mood to eat dessert there and got the feeling we weren't welcome. The waiter's attitude was similar to that of those in hk cafe's or dai pai dong (where i expect it but at least they're more friendly and the food's cheaper). All the staff seemed to have caught wind of our complaint as they gathered in the centre of the restaurant near the till and glared at us as we left, without saying bye or apologising.

This is not the sort of service I would never expect from fine-dining establishment let alone one run by a michelin-starred chef. They should take a leaf out of Jamie's book on excellent customer service (where we finished our meal with dessert) or retrain their staff immediately on being friendly and courteous.