Hung is one of our favorite Top Chef contestants ever, and we had been waiting for him to open a restaurant. When A found out that the restaurant would be open in time for M's birthday, he knew exactly where they were going.
So, what did we think?
Food: We thought the food at Catch was excellent. We ordered 5 appetizers, 1 entree, 1 side and 1 dessert, and it came with a bread as well. Everything was very good but, to preview, we rank the 8 savory items as follows:
1. Crunchy rice cakes with tuna tartare
2. Crab-stuffed calamari (M) / Crispy shrimp (A)
3. Crispy shrimp (M) / Crab-stuffed calamari (A)
4. Pretzel bread with mustard butter (M) / Brussels sprouts (A)
5. Brussels sprouts (M) / Pretzel bread with mustard butter (A)
To jump to our dessert, click here.
Decor/Style: Catch is a bustling place. We were seated on the second level of the restaurant (3rd floor of the building) which is where the open kitchen is. It's really nice being able to see all the activity in the kitchen and in the beginning, when it was a little quieter, we were even able to hear Hung giving orders in the kitchen. It was awesome. We also liked the details in the restaurant, like the menus, the fonts (in M's case) and the wall design.
Service: Sadly this was a little hit or miss for us. Even more sadly it was more miss than hit.
- We had added a note to the reservation that this was for M's birthday. Noting a special occasion doesn't always mean something special, so we didn't expect anything before we got there. But there was another couple which had a larger table and had a dessert with a candle on it, which we didn't get, so that was weird.
- Pacing of appetizers was a disaster. We ordered 5 appetizers for our little 2 top table. Instead of spacing things out so that we had 1-2 appetizers, or even 3, at the table at a time (so that they would comfortably fit on the table), all 5 of our dishes came out within minutes, and they barely fit on our table. This led to the next issue...
- In an effort to force everything to fit on our table, the runner moved A's plate and silverware to the side of the table and put one of our dishes down right in front of him. He then put the final dish on the table and shoved it over to make it fit. This wouldn't have been a big deal except he also shoved it straight into one of our sushi pieces and would have knocked it over had M not said something to make him stop. In the end we moved the sushi for him to free up enough space for that last dish. It looked like he was going to just plop the last plate on top of the sushi. How can anyone think that would be OK? That's just wrong.
All that said, overall, it was an excellent meal. We also got to meet Chef Huynh on the way out which was awesome! What will follow is a dish by dish recap so that we can highlight each dish individually while also not creating one massive post. After this experience, we can safely say that we would definitely go back.
Decor/Style: Catch is a bustling place. We were seated on the second level of the restaurant (3rd floor of the building) which is where the open kitchen is. It's really nice being able to see all the activity in the kitchen and in the beginning, when it was a little quieter, we were even able to hear Hung giving orders in the kitchen. It was awesome. We also liked the details in the restaurant, like the menus, the fonts (in M's case) and the wall design.
Service: Sadly this was a little hit or miss for us. Even more sadly it was more miss than hit.
- We had added a note to the reservation that this was for M's birthday. Noting a special occasion doesn't always mean something special, so we didn't expect anything before we got there. But there was another couple which had a larger table and had a dessert with a candle on it, which we didn't get, so that was weird.
- Pacing of appetizers was a disaster. We ordered 5 appetizers for our little 2 top table. Instead of spacing things out so that we had 1-2 appetizers, or even 3, at the table at a time (so that they would comfortably fit on the table), all 5 of our dishes came out within minutes, and they barely fit on our table. This led to the next issue...
- In an effort to force everything to fit on our table, the runner moved A's plate and silverware to the side of the table and put one of our dishes down right in front of him. He then put the final dish on the table and shoved it over to make it fit. This wouldn't have been a big deal except he also shoved it straight into one of our sushi pieces and would have knocked it over had M not said something to make him stop. In the end we moved the sushi for him to free up enough space for that last dish. It looked like he was going to just plop the last plate on top of the sushi. How can anyone think that would be OK? That's just wrong.
All that said, overall, it was an excellent meal. We also got to meet Chef Huynh on the way out which was awesome! What will follow is a dish by dish recap so that we can highlight each dish individually while also not creating one massive post. After this experience, we can safely say that we would definitely go back.
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