Mosaic Modern Fusion

The scene from street-level at Mosaic seemed pretty cool, so I was excited to check it out on a recent business trip with a colleague. Having dined at another tapas locale (Mango) the night before, we were in a good mood to try a bunch of small plates. However, the service was not terribly helpful in suggesting an appropriate number of places for us to choose ("they're all different sizes" is not a helpful answer.) Our server was terse in a number of other interactions, so that makes Mosaic only a 3. Also, some of the prices for the plates seemed off ($14 for 3 scallops just seems wrong...)

I ate dinner at Mosaic on two occasions during a recent visit to St. Louis.  The menu offers a good balance of vegetarian- and carnivore-friendly options.  Prices are reasonable and the wine list is decent, but not overwhelming.

My first visit was really fantastic. The waiter was right on in terms of service and timing, expressing no pressure in terms of ordering/table turnover (for instance, we spent a lot of time chatting before we actually ordered).  My dining companion and I found the "small plates" to be very generously sized, and ended up canceling part of our order because we were just too full (they were very accommodating on this part too).  

After my positive experience earlier in the week, I raved about the place and invited 3 colleagues to dinner.  What a different experience.  While the food was consistent, the waitress was uptight and virtually invisible (and not in a good way).  We ordered a second bottle of wine and by the time it was actually delivered we were nearly ready for dessert.  To be fair, the restaurant was very busy, but the server's awkwardness and unapologetic approach didn't help matters.

Mosaic tauts what they call a "market style" delivery.  Essentially, it means that plates get delivered as the kitchen has them ready.   I like that style, but found that the servers (especially in our second case) didn't come back to make sure we got everything we had ordered.  This is an area for potential improvement because it's easy to lose track of how many plates you've ordered, and what you're still waiting on.

Food was pretty tasty (asparagus, mushroom tart, scallops), but "market style" meant that dishes came out of the kitchen randomly and very, very, very slowly. We were there for two-and-a-half hours and left in exhaustion before we could even contemplate dessert. Someone needs to organize the kitchen, it seems.