Emporium Restaurant

My boyfriend and I visited this restaurant for the first on our anniversary last night. We were promptly seated by one of the friendly hosts. About 10 minutes later a young lady asked if we would like drinks and I said yes, 2 waters please and could you bring us a drink menu. She said she is allowed to serve drinks. I am assume she is underage. A few seconds later our waitress brought us waters and we told her the other girl was bringing us a drink menu. She said okay and walked away. The other girl came back and said we have to go downstairs to the bar to order drinks. We figured we would just wait for our server to come back and order at that time. 10 minutes pass and I just suggested my boyfriend go down and get them from the bar. He did so and the host walked them back up for us. We put in our order including an appetizer of Ahi Tuna. Our salads and soup arrive....then the waitress informs us the kitchen JUST told her they do not have the Ahi Tuna. We order Calamari instead. The calamari was more than disappointing....it looked and tasted like fish sticks. I am NOT exaggerating. The same fish sticks your mom made you as a kid. We aren't the type to complain so we laughed about it and ate our fish sticks. Our food comes out. I ordered the Herb Crusted Salmon with asparagus and Garlic Mash potatoes....the asparagus was less than half cook. It was still cold and hard. The garlic mash potatoes were good but there wasn't even a hint if garlic in them. My boyfriends meal was fine. I don't know if we just went on a bad day. Everyone was running around like crazy talking about how busy it was. I assume they do not get packed often and it was a surprise to them. Our server was pleasant and I believe on a regular day she is probably a great server. I don't think we will be going back there again. Cool place. Not so cool service.

Unfortunately, my experience with the Emporium continues to decline.  My last trip was dinner for four with my future in-laws.  We were seated immediately as the restaurant was not busy on a Tuesday evening.

Our waitress greeted us with a "hey, what's up?".  We ordered drinks (2 beers and 2 glasses of wine) and a appetizer.  Our drinks and water were never refilled.

The fried zucchini appetizer is decent - nice big spears fried crisp with a dill dipping sauce.   Our waitress tried severing our dinners without clearing the salad or appetizer plates - needless to say, there wasn't run and we were basically trying to bus our own table.

I ordered the polynesian chicken with asparagus.  The asparagus was good, but the chicken and wild rice was so incredibly salty.  My fiance and his mother both ordered the pork tenderloin and it was so overcooked and dried.  The demi-glaze was more of a congealed gravy.  They said the garlic mashed potatoes were ok.  My future father in-law ordered the 60z sirloin with a baked potato, both were ok.

Service was sub-par at best.  The Emporium has a long history in South Bend and is locally owned, I just wish they could get their act together and upgrade the food and service.

If you are looking for a beef jerky of a ribeye or really dry chicken, this place is for you!  Couldn't believe the crap food and service we received here on Saturday night!  We came in to a half empty restaurant and was told it would be a 15 - 20 minute wait... so we had a drink in the bar (best portion of the restaurant).  I had never been there before and I enjoyed the charm of the old wood, the beautiful stained glass windows and the views of the river.  Fast forward 20 minutes, my boyfriend went to check on when we were going to get a table and it's like they had forgotten about us.  One waitress/hostess/whatever she was leaned on a column nearly the entire time we were there.  Literally just stood there like supporting the column was her job!  Anyway, we were served burnt dinner rolls, had our soup and salad immediately then waited 30+ minutes for our nasty dry dinner.  I got the teriyaki chicken with grilled pineapple on top, and the cook didn't even bother to take off the rind of the pineapple slice.  And it was so dry, it reminded me of that turkey from Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation.  So gross, definitely would never go back even if the food was free.