Emerson Grill

I know, I know...a mere 2 stars...I'm in utter disbelief myself.  My Dad and I went to Emerson Grill last summer for the very first time and was blown away.  Well, we revisited just recently and were completely underwhelmed.  I'm not even kidding when I say the best thing we consumed were the CROUTONS on the Caesar salad, really.  

Long story short, my Dad and I were planning on an incredibly nice dinner on his last night in Bozeman (he was flying out the next day; I now live here), and so we'd kind of been planning on hitting Emerson Grill, thinking we wouldn't be let down.  Let's just say we both left very disappointed and unsatisfied for the overall service we'd received.  Also, I feel bad for ranting and raving about this place to all my friends telling them how great it is!  

The service was attentive and perfectly timed, and our server was friendly and willing to give helpful suggestions as well.  However, the service fell flat when our server told us she "didn't quite know what to do about this situation" after we'd told her how unimpressed we ultimately were with our dinner.

Back to the food:
Bread - tasty w/ nice seasonings, evoo and balsamic are a nice touch
Caesar - very good w/ delicious croutons; Bridger Brewery's Caesar is better
Fish Special - salmon was lukewarm and wimpy/thin, the polenta was nicely pan-fried and hot, broccoli rabe was average; isn't the fish supposed to be the hottest and last thing prepared?!?
Seafood Pasta (1/2 price from 5-6pm) - more like a tasteless cioppino, so brothy/watery that 1/2 of it sloshed out when brought to the table...I thought it was supposed to be pasta not soup? ***We had this sent back and ordered the risotto in its place
Risotto - steak that came on top was overcooked and lacked flavor (server didn't even ask how we'd like it prepared), risotto was bland in flavor; had better steak and risotto at Ale Works a week prior as two of their nightly specials (they both were actually amazing)
Beverage - great b/c we took our own bottle of wine!

Of course when you don't like a dish (or dishes in our case), the waitstaff it hugely offended and you're "snubbed" for the remainder of the evening...and they even had the nerve to say, "No one else has ever not liked this dish, etc, etc."  Yeah, I'm sure everything is ALWAYS perfect and that nobody has been disappointed w/ ANYTHING they've ever ordered from Emerson Grill.  Get real!

Like I mentioned earlier, when I told our server about our overall experience and how we'd had high expectations due to our previous experience being amazing, she acted dumbfounded and said, "This has never happened before."  She took a mere $13 off (1/2 price pasta) and charged us for both the salmon and risotto (we did eat the salmon but barely touched the risotto).  Of course charge us for what we ate but for what we were disappointed with and had even told them about?  They didn't even attempt to compensate us for a very lackluster meal...horrible customer service in my opinion!!!

After we left, we walked around the farmer's market and wished we'd have picked something up from "Island Noodles" instead!  So much for Emerson Grill being at the top of my list as one of the best places to dine at in Bozeman.

Wonderful.  Definitely not disappointed

The food was good, I think we had a 2-3 course meal salad and anti-pasto was great, as was the salmon.  Maybe it was the two bottles of wine, but dinner turned out to be waaay too expensive for 2 $180+...  I guess that's what I get for letting the lady do the wine ordering...  It's much smaller than I expected and it surprised me to see a family with smaller kids eating there.  The service was excellent, as was the meal.  We ate every bite.  The wine dammit!