Gardiner House

Went with friends and family for Sunday brunch. Delicious food and drinks, gorgeous atmosphere, outstanding staff! The head chef, Miguel, is a treasure and maitre’d Vidal, is the epitome of hospitality. As a year round local, we’ve previously been for drinks Studio bar, and drinks and bites at the Flora bar, and dinner for 10 at Flora. Highly recommend!

I will start with the pros- great location, incredible decor, very clean and the rooftop bar was lovely. Unfortunately, they just don’t seem to know what they want to be- it most certainly isn’t a high-end boutique hotel. I wrote to the “concierge” a few days prior to our visit and it was clear based on their answers - that there was no expectation they would help with anything ahead of time. While the young woman at the front desk was very kind, she told us there was no one who could help us with our bags when we arrived. I asked for a tour and there were basically 3 empty gorgeous rooms and sadly, no outdoor lounging space even though the views are amazing. It is frankly not a full service hotel- it seems like you are on your own from the moment you arrive. We had a large “family” room which was outfitted very nicely, but for almost $1000 a night this was not the level of service we would have expected. They very much need to reassess the flow of the hotel and the “form follows function” rules of spaces - just not very well thought out to have an enormous waterfront -event-room lay empty all but Saturday night. The decor lends itself to be a potential luxury destination, but it is basically a gussied up 3 star hotel.

Expensive ,small portions, not ready for Prime time is how I would describe Flora at Gardiner house. Nice space, great view etc. As a Dutchman eating and paying for Dover Sole often $ 98 is a bit rich It not having the head on suggests frozen, I did not order it. Nice enough waitress did not know how to open a bottle of wine correctly and kept telling us to order entrees so she could put in the order .. we (3) ended up with 8 appetizer and 1 entree $ 266.- Including a mediocre Tuscan red ($78) from the non existing wine list ,5 red wines to choose from, no vintages from a 8x11 sheet of paper. When I inquired about a winelist I was told " that is it " Steak tartar ($22) was a 6oz round of fresh meat nicely seasoned but ground too fine. Croguetas (3 for $18) nice but at that price I expect more. Sardines (2 for $18) were previously frozen and therefore mushy. Mgr came to meet with his friends at 2 tables, did not pay any attention to other guests and or inquired about quality and or service with anyone else I know it's new, I know there is still some issues with staff but if you think you can charge these prices you need to have some professionals working, a decent winelist etc.