HIS
This is it. It's time to graduate and move away from all the restaurants that Harmony and I have reviewed in the past two years. There are still places we never got to try, some we still might not have heard of; kind of like this week's restaurant, Peterborough's Acqua Bistro, which we only really found out about two weeks ago.
I've written almost all my restaurant reviews with a rigid structure where I talk about food, followed by service, then price, and finally date appeal. However, this week the food and the price go hand-in-hand. As far as the taste, I wasn't too crazy about my steak kabobs, the main problem being the spicy tomato-ey sauce that covered them. I also wasn't wild about my first experience with couscous, but to each his own. I know Harmony enjoyed her duck, so your mileage may vary.
The big problem with the food is that you pay a pretty hefty price, ranging from $10 to $15, and you get hardly any food at all. We were told this after we ordered that because it's a bistro the portions are small, which is a concept I've never heard of. Overall I feel like I paid $12 for about $8 worth of food. On the menu it mentions that you can get any dinner at an entree-sized portion, but I can only assume this would double the price or so.
The service didn't really do anything to help. It took a while, a long while to be seated, and things went downhill from there. Sodas were left unfilled (refills cost extra), no oil, which is apparently standard for Acqua, was brought out with a pre-meal bread, and my meal even came with a dirty steak knife. To top it all off, there was a mistake on the bill.
The date appeal of the place was really a mixed bag. The big problem was that there was no defined atmosphere. From the outside you only see a bar, once inside you see a really fine looking dining room; this is the first clash of styles of many. In that fancy dining room, you listen to (read: get your ears ruptured by) a wide variety of music ranging from elegant to square dance. You order your incredibly fancy food from a menu that's just a single piece of paper literally tacked to a piece of scrap cardboard. Your check comes on a plate, a PLATE, yet the tablecloth is brown paper. This place just can't decide if it's fancy or not.
I did a little research on bistros after my meal and was surprised to find out that Wikipedia perfectly defines this place in its article on bistros. "Bistros are defined mostly by the foods they serve...... Bistro patrons do not necessarily expect professional service or printed menus." Sounds like Acqua. I know I seem to be really negative here, but I would honestly go back to the Bistro if they would just work on their service and atmosphere a little.
Food: B+
Service: B-
Price: C
Date Appeal: B
HERS
Before I review our last restaurant, I would like to first thank everyone who reads “Dinner for Two.” I hope that our great finds, and flops, have helped you either find somewhere new to go, or to help you decide where not to go. I have enjoyed trying new places, and especially enjoyed writing this column.
Although we had an excellent suggestion to try the Fitzwilliam Inn for our last “Dinner for Two,” Jay and I stumbled across Acqua Bistro and decided we needed to try it. Peterborough is generally far enough away that we really didn't get to explore it as we maybe should have, and finding a little bistro nestled next to some art galleries is quite a find.
On entering, Jay and I first wondered if we were dressed appropriately. We wanted to eat on the dining side, rather than the full looking bar side. However, once we were seated after an awkward wait for the hostess, we found that we didn't need to worry.
The food selection reads rather high-brow, with only a horizontal bullet list of meal components rather than what they mean. The menu is not for the faint of heart. At first glance, the prices seem very reasonable for dinner: the duck confit I ordered was $12. However, small print at the top of the menu slyly proclaims that the portions priced are "small plates," which in plain English means half of a meal. You can order the entree size if you wish, but the prices are not listed.
The interior of the room had a definite French flair, with a couple Toulouse Latrec-esque posters and faux stone painting. However, the brown craft paper on top of the table linens made it seem less classy, and I was distracted from the specials when I noticed that the waiter had a notepad made from the same craft paper stapled together.
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