Silver Oak Bistro

[mfeygin]

If we want to talk about specials without prices as a "general" topic then a  new topic  needs to be started on the General Food Topics board. Otherwise my question was to the owner of Silver Oak Bistro.

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Hi Rosie, I see that we stir the usual controversy ..LOL

As far as stating the price of the Specials ( I’m in Pittsburgh on business and did not have a chance to discuss it with Chef Gary – I’ll let him read it and comment) – I’m personally not sure what direction to take. Printing the specials out every day sounds reasonable - but what do we do when I’m not available to do it ( I’m there on Fri and Sat night). For a small place like ours, reciting the specials seems to be more “practical” at the moment.

Most of the “specials” are already priced in the menu – pasta of the day and soup of the day, fish of the day, desert of the day. There is only one – mainly meat special that Chef dreams-up on daily basis and it is mainly priced inline with the rest of the menu.

I’m thinking that maybe be will state the price if it is outside of the regular price range. I’m not a lover of people telling me what the price of the specials is at the restaurants that I frequent – unless it is priced way outside of reasonable – kills the enjoyment of the meal – but getting gouged is a different story.

I would not call our “special” pricing as “marketing” as we try to bring the freshest and most expensive ingredients as specials because we cannot afford to put it on the menu for financial or availability reasons.

As you know we are new and did not get a chance to figure out what is wrong and right yet, but we always love suggestions in enhancing the dining experience. We are still working through some service quality, training and coverage issues.

Please keep the comments coming…Mike Feygin

[Rosie]

"Most of the “specials” are already priced in the menu – pasta of the day and soup of the day, fish of the day, desert of the day. There is only one – mainly meat special that Chef dreams-up on daily basis and it is mainly priced inline with the rest of the menu."

Mike,

So what should I do? When the waiter recites the soup special of the day should I say "stop" I need to look on the menu to see the price? And do it again for the pasta, fish, and dessert? And then ask him what the meat special costs?

As a first time customer to your excellent restaurant when the waiter recited the specials without the prices I did not know if your prices were in line with the rest of the menu. And even if they were I strongly feel the customer should be told the price of the item they are buying. I may not care what the price is but I should be told it.

[Curlz]

I’m thinking that maybe be will state the price if it is outside of the regular price range.  I’m not a lover of people telling me what the price of the specials is at the restaurants that I frequent – unless it is priced way outside of reasonable –  kills the enjoyment of the meal – but getting gouged is a different story.

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Mike--

I haven't been to Silver Oak yet, but look forward to doing so. But I have to disagree with you--as a customer, what can kill the enjoyment of the meal is wondering what surprise I'm going to find on the bill after I've eaten! I don't think customers should have to assume that if they don't hear a price that it's in line with the rest of the menu, nor do I think we should have to ask.

What's so bad about a server saying "Our one addition to the menu is ___, and it is priced at $X", esp since you don't have a long list of them every night? It's great to hear that your specials are in line with your regular prices, but unless I'm a regular customer or have read this thread, I'd have no way of knowing that.

My $ .02...

Curlz

[Hank]

Mike, I have been to your restaurant twice now and the bottom line for me is that the food is very, very good and the service most friendly and competent. But, for my pleasure and comfort I would rather read about the specials and also know what I am paying and agree fully with Rosie. With that said nothing you change or do not change will keep me from returning to your restaurant. I love the preparation and taste of the food. At Silver Oak Bistro I dine and savor. I do not just eat. There is a big difference. Period.

Edited January 31, 2006 by Hank (log)

[mfeygin]

Mike, I have been to your restaurant twice now and the bottom line for me is that the food is very, very good and the service most friendly and competent.  But, for my pleasure and comfort I would rather read about the specials and also know what I am paying and agree with Rosie. With that said nothing you change or do not change will keep me from returning to your restaurant. I love the preparation and taste of the food. At Silver Oak Bistro I dine and savor. I do not just eat. There is a big difference. Period.

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Where else can one get direct feedback from customers? GO eGullet!!!

I thank you all for your suggestions and will discuss it with Chef Gary upon my return. I do respect everyone’s opinion and understand that this is very hot topic of discussion. As I stated before, we just have to work on logistics of telling the customers about the pricing. I will keep everyone posted and THANK YOU FOR YOUR FEEDBACK!!!!!

[Rosie]

Logistics of telling the customer??? Mike--you tell the waiter what the specials are and tell him to recite the specials with the prices.

Mike--when your purveyors call you and tell you that they have a special on such and such do you tell them to send it or do you ask them the price?

[jwjojo]

There must be a computer in the restaurant....when I was a server, years ago, it was one of our duties...like refilling the salt & pepper. One of us had to type the specials and copy them. We were given the list by the chef, with descriptions, and that was that.

[tommy]

i'm guessing mike will be able to figure this one out all by himself. why don't we let him finish up his trip in peace.

[mfeygin]

i'm guessing mike will be able to figure this one out all by himself.  why don't we let him finish up his trip in peace.   

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Thanks Tommy

[mfeygin]

Logistics of telling the customer??? Mike--you tell the waiter what the specials are and tell him to recite the specials with the prices.

Mike--when your purveyors call you and tell you that they have a special on such and such do you tell them to send it or do you ask them the price?

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Hi Rosie, this topic seems to upset many people. I will ask Chef Gary to stop making any specials till we can figure our what went wrong here. Concerned, Mike Feygin

[mfeygin]

Logistics of telling the customer??? Mike--you tell the waiter what the specials are and tell him to recite the specials with the prices.

Mike--when your purveyors call you and tell you that they have a special on such and such do you tell them to send it or do you ask them the price?

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Rosie, your waiter was asked to recite the price of the special to you. Should I be working on the logistics?

[mfeygin]

If we want to talk about specials without prices as a "general" topic then a  new topic  needs to be started on the General Food Topics board. Otherwise my question was to the owner of Silver Oak Bistro.

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Hi Rosie, as of today, Chef Gary will start offering his specials once again and I’m happy to say that we will begin announcing the prices with these specials. We feel that this will be in the best interest of our customers and Silver Oak. I truly thank everyone who had contributed to this discussion on and off eGullet and looking forward to more feedback in improving the dining experience at Silver Oak. Thanks again, Mike Feygin.

[Anonymouze]

MMmmmMmm I didn't know there was room for improvement with SOB, HEH I guess there's always room to learn more though! Congrats on the great food Mike, I hope to be in again as soon as we hit Ridgewood again!

[mfeygin]

MMmmmMmm  I didn't know there was room for improvement with SOB, HEH I guess there's always room to learn more though!  Congrats on the great food Mike, I hope to be in again as soon as we hit Ridgewood again! 

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Thanks Anonymouze, I found the SOB abbreviation very funny - this is exactly what I call Chef Gary during the dinner rush....

[Rosie]

Great news Mike. Along with your wonderful food your customers will appreciate that specials are recited with the prices.

Now--if you wanted to write them out and put an insert into the menu.............

[Curlz]

You all might find this thread about specials and pricing interesting, esp those of you who are restaurant owners (not just Mike)!

[Deldino]

Hi -

My co-worker and I are going to Silver Oak next week for lunch - There have been such positive reviews we can't wait. Can anyone recommend a dish that is a little on the lighter side here since we will unfortunately have to go back to work (and I don't want to fall asleep on the job)

thanks

[Anonymouze]

Jeff and I went to Silver Oak Bistro to celebrate our 23 years of bliss... (grin/wink) and enjoyed everything we ate! Our great waitress Laurie recited the specials without nary a pause *YES, including prices!* and Chef Gary took time out of his hectic evening to say hello and he even remembered my moniker (LOL) "anonymouze" and mentioned a bit about the upcoming "take out bbq" when I had asked him, because I have heard that he's a pro at that BBQ sauce. ANYHOW, I can tell THAT by just the sauce that came with our home-made potato-chips... man, I wanted to get a cup to go but didn't want to bother anyone, it was real good! This is what we got tonight read it and drool

We shared an appetizer - Crabby Chicken - it was (to quote his menu)

Lump Maryland Crab cake & Chef Gary’s own Cajun Chicken Boudin sausage served over Granny Smith apple slaw with herb coulee

Followed by the soup special! It was mighty fine. It was a duck and andoille sausage gumbo (*I THINK?) with fresh okra and tomatoes and other goodies with a tiny kick! Man-oh-man it was GOOD! Hubby who is "Mr Spice" loved it too.

We got salads with nice greens and slivered onions and a nice vinagrette type dressing. I did NOT eat mine as I was almost full already and wanted room to eat the main course!

Hubby got the Lamb (he wanted the lamb 4 ways but they were out) he had the "Lamb "MY" Way" as hubby called it... it was sheer perfection, it came with potatoes and goat cheese as a sort of potato kugel type thing and tasty cuts of lamb made nicely. (I took a bite and hubby took a bite of my dish!)

I got the Mahogany Duck (500 times better in my opinion than the last place I had duck, which was on Chinese New Years!) His is a Long Island Duckling marinated oriental and mandarin orange roasted crisp with an orange fennel sauce (I declined the rice I knew it would over-fill me) I opted for shoestring potatoes which hit the spot just right!

I took 1/3 of my duck home and 1/2 the potatoes for lunch - for tomorrow!

I wanted dessert but I was in the mood for chocolate... there wasn't anything chocolate but their dessert sounded heavenly but we declined. (Key-lime pie with blood orange sauce or something like that!)

We finally had a drop of room for dessert at 8:45PM so I had some not as good as SOB dessert quality stuff... but it worked for me! It was, Ben & Jerry's Ice cream with some delicious Hot Fudge with Raspberry Liquer (which I got at PICNIC the other week) made by Stonewall... MMMmmmMMmm good stuff.

What a perfect end to a perfect night. Though our anniversary isn't until the middle of NEXT week we celebrate between Valentines Day and our Anniversary in between the weekends, if one or the other doesn't fall on a weekend day!

Edited February 20, 2006 by Anonymouze (log)

[docsconz]

I had dinner last night at Silver Oak while in town to visit my FIL with my family. While the restaurant clearly has a lot to recommend it including a lot of food for the money and very good and friendly staff, my conclusion is that the style of food is not really my cup of tea. I pretty much got full just looking at my appetizers. The dishes are not short on flavor, but they tended to be heavier than I care for. I had a pasta special that interestingly would IMO have been better without the special ingredient of soft-shell crab. Now I love a good soft-shell crab as much as anything, but this one, lacked flavor and texture and was overwhelmed by the rest of the dish, which fortunately happened to be very tasty. While I ate the crab, I preferred the tastes I had without it more.

My veal chop was in itself superb, juicy and perfectly cooked, although I didn't care very much for its supporting cast.

It is impossible to leave this restaurant hungry and for those who enjoy this style of cooking and saucing, the accolades are richly deserved.

[Deldino]

Congratulations on the review in the Bergen Record.

http:\\www.bergen.com under food dining reviews

[Anonymouze]

Congratulations on the review in the Bergen Record.

http:\\www.bergen.com  under food dining reviews

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You have your "slashes" backwards! LOL - here's the link for you clickers.

http://www.bergen.com

Go to "Food Dining" on the left side and then submenu dining.

WOW what a review I just read it. You are now officially a 2.5 to 3 star "NJ" restaurant and her comments were pretty much what I would have said but I feel that you're not "expensive"... and then in the review she complains that you give too much food - you have to laugh! Anyhow, you see how they rate expensive? I consider up to $75.00 without tax/tip for two for supper with a shared appetizer and a soup or salad each and 1 main entree and a dessert reasonable. In NY you'd probably be a 4 star IMHO. Congratulations to the staff at SOB once again for a job well done!!!!!

[bergen]

got my first taste of Silver Oak Bistro. This weekend. Excellent chef but this food is too heavy for my taste. The lobser in the Rich Man Poor Man was excellent while the monk fish was just okay. The sauce is well prepared. Also tried the Rags and Fungus which was also very good but much too heavy sauce. Very fresh pasta and a generous serving of very good mushrooms.

[tommy]

In NY you'd probably be a 4 star IMHO. 

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Per Se

Masa

Le Bernadin

Daniel

Jean Georges

Silver Oak Bistro

i think your enthusiasm for the place might be getting in the way of reasonable thought.

also, serving enough food for 3 people doesn't negate the average price of a meal. leftovers don't come into play when determining if a restaurant falls into an "expensive" category. SOB is not the cheapest BYO around. entrees reach the high 20's.

i agree with this review, and others, that suggest that the dishes can be too busy, to my taste at least. there's no denying the brilliance of the soups and the BBQ, however. and it's just a pleasant place overall.

Edited March 27, 2006 by tommy (log)

[menton1]

The Bergen Record gives 3 stars to every restaurant they review. I'm not saying that SOB doesn't deserve it, don't get me wrong. But the Record's credibility on reviews is fairly suspect, I would take most of what they say with a grain of salt. Don't know if it's a quid pro quo for advertising, or what, but everyone gets 3 stars.

Smoke Chophouse, a dump in Englewood, got 3 1/2 stars about a year ago in the Record. Tells you something.

[bergen]

brilliant soups - on Friday they did not even have any soup. We asked and they said they did not have a soup today.