We headed up to "The Moth" around 4:45, arriving around 5 o'clock. As my boyfriend Ryan pulls up to the valet and I'm getting out, the valet guy comes over to my door and starts touching my arm while he tells me how much he likes my tattoo. Okay- I've got this before, people like to touch tattoos for some reason (I don't get it). So anyways, after already invading my space he goes even further by sticking his fingers under my shirt to see my entire tattoo. This all in the span of about 4 or 5 seconds while I am getting out of my car. I brush it (and him) off and decide to go in anyways. This is my first mistake and my first impression of Meddlesome Moth. Not so great so far... but wait, it gets worse.
As we enter the restaurant, I'm attempting to forget my uncomfortable run in with the valet guy. I notice that the place isn't very busy, and we were starving so I'm hoping we can get in and out for more than one reason. We were seated at a booth close to the kitchen (which I liked) and I was beginning to relax. So we ordered a couple beers and picked out our starters.
We ordered the Moth Balls and the Venison Tartare. I chose the Moth Balls, because they claimed to be a "shoutout to The Spotted Pig in NYC". The dish they are referring to (which is not listed on the MM menu) is the Sheep's Milk Ricotta Gnudi. Last May my friend Gail and I went to The Spotted Pig and tried the dish that they are referring to. I raved about it to Ryan, telling him how cheesy, buttery, salty and delicious it was. It was like nothing I've ever tried before.
Here's a photo of the original Spotted Pig Gnudi.
This is Meddlesome Moth's version.
They were different. I won't go in too much detail about The Spotted Pig's Gnudi, because that would be another post. But, if I hadn't tried The Spotted Pig's version (or if they hadn't referenced it) I probably would've liked Meddlesome Moth's just fine. This dish just did not pay a very good homage to the famous New York eatery. In addition to that, the dish was dry and room temperature. The sauce was separating. It was chewy. I was disappointed... again.
We still had the Venison Tartare to try. We chose this dish because Ryan and his father are avid game hunters and he grew up eating venison. Usually, our freezer is full of different cuts, but we had never tried venison raw. Ryan said he was game (pun intended) and we ordered it.
The tartare was served with gaufrette potatoes (thin homemade waffle cut chips). This was probably my personal favorite part of our meal, if you could call what we had a meal.
To be honest, I wasn't really impressed with the presentation of this plate. The green smear, the greasy paper bag, the way that they smushed the tartare into a cup and then plopped it on to the plate... what an abomination. The only reason this was my favorite part of the meal is because the "Moth Balls" were such a dissatisfaction, and the rest of our meal never even showed up!
That's right, after finishing our appetizers, we ordered the sirloin "Meat Sticks" and the Creamed Corn. After two beers and 45 minutes of waiting for meat and corn, we finally asked our waiter what was up. We were told that it was the kitchen's fault and he could turn it in and it only takes 10 minutes to make! He blamed it on the fact that we came in during a shift change period, and that the chefs must have been confused (personally, I didn't appreciate him blaming the kitchen). We were pretty irate at this point and just told him to bring us our check. We then noticed him walk over to the computer, and print off our check with just one touch of a button... seeming as if he hadn't had to remove items from the bill. Meaning we waited around, hungry for 45 minutes for nothing. When he brought us back our check, he never apologized and he didn't comp anything on our "meal". This waiter just made us feel like it was our fault, like we came into the restaurant at a bad time or something. He could have easily taken off a beer or something! Especially since it was happy hour!!
I really wish I had more pictures and more positive things to say about this place, but it was 99% awful. They have a great beer selection, but the service and food were poor. I left feeling hungry, angry, and mistreated. I do not recommend going there.
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