Encore Restaurant & Lounge

Always a great time.. The crowd is not too young, not too old.
Never eaten dinner, but it's always one our regular spot on Saturday nights for drinks and dancing.

Myself and a large group of friends went here Saturday night for my birthday dinner & drinks, dancing, lounging afterwards.

For starters this place is in dire need of a new sign, it looks like a rodeo/cowboy bar from outside and when you enter it's a full on culture shock of animal prints & contemporary design. (I have been here before so I already knew that).

I never had eaten here before and will be sure not to again. The food is overpriced for what you get and the wait staff left so much to be desired. I almost gave 3 stars because they did have multiple large parties going on at once, but part of running a business is staffing the place appropriately. I'm going to strongly assume that the other table of 15 and 1 table of 20 didn't just show up without reservations...so they knew they'd be busy!

-Steaks were ordered and no steak knives were given, we had to ask about 3x for them.
-Spoon for twirling pasta, not rocket science...also asked for multiple times
-Water...we felt like we were begging for water, and a refill on that was apparently out of the question.
-Out of scallops, yet it's an entree on their menu. (On a Saturday @ 8pm?!)
-Out of certain types of liquor needed to make their specialty cocktails, so multiple attempts at ordering certain drinks resulted in fails.
-Ordered shots & they couldn't make them, offered another type and wound up with something different again-- Starburst shot, didn't have the liquor...birthday cake shot was offered and I most definitely wound up drinking a lemon drop shot!
-Assorted appetizer plates were good
-Calamari had lots of hot peppers, I assume they use these as filler because the amount of calamari was lacking. But they should be optional - they were way too hot, not listed on the menu, so we had no idea biting into them to expect ours mouths to be on fire!
-Skirt Steak, small portion but delicious
-Linguini had broccoli rabe but was far too large and included the stalks making it near impossible to eat

Our waitress was wearing a zip up hoodie?? If my entree costs $25+ you shouldn't be dressed the same way the girl at my local pizzeria is. The waitress rushed us to order and then mentioned they were out of certain entrees all together, which forced us to take even longer!

The DJ lighting should be kept to the dance floor area, we tried to take pictures and regardless of which direction you faced it felt like you were having a seizure from the lights strobing in your face!! Many in our party commented that the music was way too loud, they need to control it in the bar area - we were screaming at one another. Decide if you are a club or a lounge...

From the outside, this place looks like a hokey steakhouse. On the plus side, there is a large, free lot.

Inside it is much more sophisticated and swanky. At 9:30 on a Saturday the bar was pretty dead, but by 11 it filled up a bit. We went there to dance, but they were playing only house/techno music and we never did find out where the dance floor was. We are in our mid to late 20s, and we felt a bit young. We also felt a bit out of place because the bartenders and staff and patrons were socializing and everybody knew each other except for us.

On the plus side: my cosmo was deliciously strong for $9, and they don't charge a cover! I would attempt going back with some of my older friends.