3 /5 clay: I booked date night at No. 246 around a month before our reservation, and it left much to be desired...
My Girlfriend and I have visited two of Ford Frys restaurants, Little Sparrow and Marcel, with great delight, and had amazingly high hopes for No. 246. Little Sparrow and Marcel are both amazing haunts, we would highly recommend to any person seeking an amazing date night or experience in the culinary arts, if you can get a reservation.
Our expectations of No. 246 were high based on these experiences. It was lacking.
First, the experience needs to begin with the parking, or lack thereof. My girlfriend and I arrived in Decatur at 6:45 for a 7:15 PM reservation, weve both experienced parking in Decatur before and wanted to be sure that we could get to our reservation on time, but to say there was a lack of parking near the restaurant would be an understatement.
After we found parking, blocks away, we walked to the restaurant and entered. The restaurant had the ambiance of an industrial warehouse with a bar, open kitchen, and large overhead fans.
Upon entering, we checked in with the staff. We were told we would be seated shortly. Shortly, in a place with no place to sit or step aside from tables or the bar was awkward, to say the least. About 5-10 minutes later we were placed at table so close to the door, we could see every person check-in and hear their conversations. This is in addition to the A/C being run at frigid temperatures, it being so loud you can barely hear your partner sitting directly next to you, and people awkwardly meandering near your seat to wait for their reservations.
Our waiter arrived after about 5 minutes of us sitting to ask us if it was our first time in the restaurant, or if we were return customers. We mentioned this was our first time in the restaurant, and he welcomed us in. This would be our last good impression with our waiter.
The Waiter returned to us approximately 10 minutes later to ask if we wanted any drinks or had any questions about the menu. No suggestions for the menu.
Our waiter returned to us after about 20 minutes to collect our orders, and only after we asked him, did he offer his suggestions on the menu. We had seen the menu online and social media, and the garlic bread. He suggested several dishes, but offered the suggestion that most people who visited the restaurant had seen the cheese pull on their garlic bread. He said it was basically "Hungry Howies cheese bread, but upscale". To compare an upscale Italian restaurant to a cheap pizza delivery is disappointing. We ordered the meatball, the Caesar salad, and two pasta dishes. The waiter told us the bread service would be out shortly.
About 5 minutes later, we received the bread service, which was a hot and delicious sourdough with a red sauce, it was divine.
Our second appetizer was the meatball. It was disappointing we needed to ask for extra bread for this dish! If one is to enjoy a meatball with sauce, they should have bread to compliment the meatball or dip in sauce.
Our third dish was the Caesar salad. If you enjoy lemon you will love this dish. I ate an anchovy from this dish, and it was so soaked in lemon, it ruined my appetite for the night.
For the entree, my girlfriend ordered the Cacio e Pepe, which was delicious, I ordered the Bolognese. The Cacio e Pepe was delicious. My Bolognese was also delicious, but my appetite was ruined by the anchovies on the Caesar salad. We decided to skip desert, as would be our usual move.
The restaurant was cold, the food delicious but paced incorrectly, and the serving staff attentive but uninviting.
All in all, the food was delicious, the experience was lackluster 6/10 overall. Highly recommend Ford Frys other restaurants before No. 246.