Vivo

02/16/09

Wonderful Dining Experience

by MFCB at Citysearch

The restaurant is cozy and comfortable, and the staff was helpful and friendly without being overwhelming. The food was amazing. We started dinner with two appetizers: a beef carpaccio and sauteed exotic mushrooms with chorizo and goat cheese. The beef is sliced to order and was drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with coarse salt and truffle. The beef was so tender it literally melted in our mouths. It was perfectly seasoned - complimented but not overwhelmed. The mushroom dish was delicious as well, with the star of that dish being the goat cheese. It was fresh and creamy and mild. The pasta course (which comes with every meal) was served with a house-made sauce which was perfect. The fun of the pasta dish was that it was served with chili oil, which served as a nice addition to the sauce. For dinner, we ordered the lamb chops and the scallops. The lamb chops were grilled and served with an amazing honey truffle mustard. It was tender and flavorful. The scallops were the largest I have seen. They were pan seared absolutely perfectly and served over a sweet chili sauce. The vegetables for that day were cabbage with pears and butternut squash. Vivo serves their vegetables at room temperature, a prospect which was off-putting to hear but surprisingly good to eat. I am not usually a fan of cabbage, but this was some of the most tender and non-bitter cabbage I have had. Salad was served after dinner and was good but not noteworthy. However, the dessert was certainly something to write home about. We had the homemade "Heath" gelato, and mascarpone cheese with nutella, crushed amaretti cookies, and fresh berries. Both were excellent, but the mascarpone was exceptional. We made it out of there, full and happy, for $110. I think that is a very reasonable price for a five course meal of that caliber!

• Pros: fresh, quality ingredients, prepared well
• Cons: pasta is not house-made

04/04/08

Pathetic--not family friendly

by redcomet at Citysearch

I was part of a group who were mistreated by the staff. This is clearly NOT a family friendly place despite what they advertise or what others tell you. They have no realistic expectations of child behavior--should've been honest upfront and just say "we're not prepared to handle kids." How this restaurant get a "$$" for meal price is beyond me; there is no way in HELL that you can get a decent meal without spending at least $50+ per person. I am also terribly disappointed by one of the reviewers who stated that their experience were "ruined" by others' children. Blame the owners. You can only expect so much from toddlers. The reviewers or the staff probably never dealt with kids of their own. The WORST is how they felt necessary to single out the race of the alleged people at fault. In a city where a significant number of celebrities are Asian, I find it especially disappointing that people of different ethnic origin are still discriminated against, as if non-Caucasian people cannot appreciate fine dining in the United States or always appear uncivilized in public. Just beware of both the ownership as well as the clientele when you plan to visit Vivo.

02/28/08

All Around Wonderful

by adrianemartin at Citysearch

I took my three best friends to Vivo for Valentine's Day; it was the most perfect Valentine?s dinner ever! We arrived at 7:30 and did not leave till nearly 11. Not once did we feel rushed. The feel of the resturant was as if we were in Europe and we had all the time in the world. The server was friendly and the ambience was fantastic. The food, oh the food!! I had the salmon, which was one of the best pieces of salmon that I have ever had. Not over cooked not under cooked, just wonderful. Everything is al a carte, but worth it. Vivo is not a place that I will go every weekend, but for those special occasions it is number one on my list. Where else will the Chef come out to your table and talk to you about the food he has cooked?

• Pros: Food, Service, Ambience