Root & Branch bistro + bar

Such a terrible Valentine's Dining experience at this restaurant. 3-course $85/pp set menu not disclosed when reservation made. When we arrived our server said all of her tables were surprised and some had already walked out! We should have taken her advice. Menu was so strange, nothing from their normal service menu, so we considered leaving but thought with no other reservation getting in anywhere would have been tough. We should have trusted our gut and left! First course options consisted of raw beef, seafood ceviche, cheese stuffed mushrooms or clam chowder. No salads available at all - and very few vegetables on the whole menu. Clam chowder was gritty and contained sandy, tough clams. I chewed and chewed and finally spat back into bowl. Stuffed mushrooms were fine, three very small mushrooms served on the plate. Dinner entrees were disastrous. Of course a very long wait, to be expected on this holiday, but a request for water was completely ignored as our server disappeared for 20-30 minute stretches. My husband's entree was brought out first (not acceptable to bring entrees separately by 10 minutes for a party of two!) First filet was ice cold as well as all his accompaniments, plus we told server that he had no fork. Sent that back. 5-10 minutes later, he received a second steak, no fork again, was warmer but brocollini still ice cold, maybe by design? Very strange. Still no entree for me. At this point we asked hostess if we could speak to the manager. About 10 minutes later my lobster tail arrived, severely overdone and over salted, literally swimming in a pool of oil risotto - literally a moat of oil surrounding everything - with ice cold brocollini. I pulled the lobster and brocollini from the plate to eat something as the rest was inedible. At this point, with our plates pushed aside, our server shows up and says was everything good. One look at our plates would have given her the answer. We asked at that point for the second time to see the manager. She said yes and ran away. After another 15 minutes, no manager, no dessert, no server, completely oblivious staff. We decide to cut our losses and ask bartender if we can check out with him and get out of there. After an hour and a half we felt like we were being held hostage. He gets someone who may have been a manager. They give my husband a bill of $210 (we each had a glass of wine), and we leave. No apologies. No explanation. Nothing. We will NEVER go back. What a disastrous Valentine's meal!

5 YEARS AGO, I WROTE THE BELOW COMMENT. NOT TONIGHT. Wonderful New restaurant. Food was well prepared, the service very attentive, the overall presentation was superb. AND, the prices are excellent. We highly recommend the Root & Branch bistro + bar. ====================== FOLLOWUP: 2/14/2024: We decided to go to Root and Branch for a Valentines Day Meal. What a horrible mistake that was. First, it was $85 per person plus any drinks. We checked in at 7pm and were seated immediately. 10 minutes later our waiter shows up and takes our drink order. That takes 20 minutes for the drinks to arrive. (Wine-$8 and a Rum&Coke $15!!). He finally takes our limited menu food order. My wife ordered a beef starter and I ordered clam chowder. Oops, already out of the Clam Chowder, at 7:30! So I ordered the same as my wife. Another 20 minutes and our starters arrive, well my wife's did, I was served something completely different. I kept it only because it was taking so long for anything to happen. My wife ordered the lobster and said it was absolutely wonderful. I ordered the 10oz Wagyu Steak. The menu said Medium, but the waiter had asked how I would like it cooked. I said Med Rare. Well, it came out cooked somewhere between Medium and Medium Well, and it was dry. The piece of broccoli was good and the tablespoon of mashed potatoes were nice. Then desert time. We both ordered the Creme Brulee. Silly us, They were out of it already. So we ordered cheesecake to go, only because we had spent $85 a person. The total bill before tip was $208 for what was one of the worst meals I have had in a very long time. In full disclosure, I didn't complain or ask to speak to a manager. First, it was Valentine's Day and that would have killed what little enjoyment we were having. And secondly, we hardly ever saw our waiter, so I really didn't feel like waiting. When we went there 5 years ago, it was a wonderful experience. But when you are going to charge $85 a person you should be conscious of exceptional quality and service.

Went in for Valentine’s Day and I have been kicking myself since last night because we spent so much money on such a bad experience. I was so excited to go here because my husband and I had a good experience before, I usually recommend this restaurant to all of my clients, but last night they really dropped the ball. We got seated after checking in and the server didn’t come to our table until 15 minutes later. We ordered a bottle of wine, which took another 20 minutes then finally ordered our food. Wanted the chowder then was informed they were out. Bummer, we chose something else. It was also a pre fixed menu at $85. I chose the wagyu steak and my husband got the lobster. Waited another 45 minutes for our food. My plate was completely cold, steak was dry and my husband portion was TINY. I could see how frantic everyone was because they for sure did not have enough wait staff to handle that volume, tables were leaving left and right. Many people next to us were upset at how long they were waiting so I knew that if I had expressed concerns about my meal we would be at the restaurant for another hour, so I didn’t say anything nor did I have the opportunity because there was no manager in sight. We finished our food and it was like for desert…. Out of crème brûlée… ok we both got the cheesecake and I was just so upset that I didn’t even care to eat it. Packed it to go and finally got our check which was around $220. I wish we would have stayed home and saved our money. We rarely get to go out with two children and my husband hired a baby sitter and everything so we could have a nice night to ourselves. The ball was definitely dropped. I’m afraid we won’t be returning.

Upon reading reviews on this place, my husband and I decided to go for Valentine’s Day. Can’t go wrong with all the 5 star reviews right? WRONG! This was such a disaster of a night. No where on their website , nor when you called for reservations, did they tell you that you can only order off of their prefixed menu which was $85pp. I can understand that price if the quality and quantity food matched the prices but it most definitely did not. We got seated and our server didn’t come back to us with drinks until 35 minutes later. Then, she kept making eye contact with us but never came back. I had to get the attention of another server to take our order, AN HOUR LATER! We spent 2.5 hours there for absolutely no reason. The food was good, not $85 good, but good. The service was a 0/10 and I hope next time this place tries to do something “upscale” they let their customers know ahead of time and train their staff better.

The place was so busy tonight. You can tell that it is a local favorite. They had a pre fixe menu - where you can choose an app, entree and dessert for $85. The taste and quality was beyond amazing. So glad we were able to get a reservation. The wine pairings were exceptional. Fine dining at its best. In Clermont of all places. We will definitely be back. Thank you root & branch!

Service was rubbish on Valentine's Day with confused inattentive staff. Set Prix was unadvertised so an $85.00 surprise.. technically a bait and switch since the Owner had to know customers would have no other Valentine's Day reservations so would be stuck taking or leaving the overpriced fixed menu. Appetizer was Three tiny mushrooms for an $85.00 meal. Clam Chowder made with tough, sandy clams. Food served cold twice. None of the food served was from their typical menu and was a poor take on Gourmet...young cooks had no idea how to prepare the unfamiliar dishes and whoever designed the menu was a fool. No salads no fresh vegetables 4 weird entree choices. Entree we chose was hunk of room temperature unseasoned beef on a pile of cold pasty mashed potatoes. Accompanied with chilled broccoli rahb kind of pale yellow stringy undercooked vegetables. Other entree was small Lobster bits on top of a pile of oil soaked risotto that were so salty it was a joke. Strawberry dessert was 2 smallish strawberrys drizzled with chocolate. Total rip off!

My wife and I had dinner reservations tonight for Valentine’s Day at 6:30pm. We ordered our food and a drink as soon as the server made contact with us. Several tables that were sat after us received their food and appetizers but we still remained without food OR our drinks. We had no contact with the server or any staff for 45-minutes. The table next to us had the same issue and ended up leaving. We soon followed suit. We will never be returning here and do not recommend. For an $85 pre fixed menu and to not even have water while we wait for our food is absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable.

Very good, small menu.Great place for a special occasion

Staff was very attentive and the food was excellent. We had a great time here