Oya or Oy Vey!!!

Stacey and I decided to go out for a holiday lunch this week and thought it'd be fun to choose a swanky new place where neither of us have been before.

After consulting one of our favorite people, Tom Sietsema of Washington Post (okay, yes, obviously we don't know him personally) we settled on Oya. We arrived at Oya shortly after 12:30 and were super impressed by the beauty of the restaurant. White was definitely the dominant color with highlights of silver, red and the warmth of a fire.

After we were seated and decided to get drinks (I had a pomegranate flavored drink, and Stacey a raspberry flavored one), the waiter brought out three delicious cheese puffs still warm from the oven. We were off to a good start!

Oya has a $19 lunch prix fixe menu and that's what Stacey and I decided to have.

My order: Grilled Sirloin with white beans and parsley vinaigrette; Tuna Burger with mirin, avocado, and tomato confit on brioche
Stacey's order: Tuna Tempura roll with scallions and seven pepper sauce; Grilled Beef Sirloin with fingerling confit, glazed mushrooms and beef jus
Dessert: we ordered the same dessert: Chocolate, Chocolate, and Chocolate: chocolate mousse/hazelnut biscuit/strawberries

We should have known something was off when it took more than 15 minutes to get our drinks, but we were happily chatting and snacking on our cheese puffs. The arrival of the drinks (really delicious!) made everything better. We drank, we chatted, we waited for the food to arrive.

...and we waited
...and we waited some more
...and then it was an hour later and no food has come and Stacey had to go back to work because she had a meeting.

So what happened? Stacey left and asked for her food to be made to go. I stayed. Eventually I received my appetizer and it was really good. The meat was cooked perfectly and the white beans with carrots and a bit of celery tasted exactly like the vegetables in my mom's beef soup: perfect! After more waiting and looking around and listening to other people's conversations, I received my tuna burger. It was not what I expected. The bun was huge! (and yes, I have a little mouth) There was just too much tuna and not nearly enough avocado or tomatoes. Also, it came with a salad, which although was pretty good (just some fancy greens in a vinaigrette), wasn't substantial as a side dish. But I was just glad to finally have food in front of me.

I then asked for my dessert to be to go as well, because I had to return to work too (yes, shocker!). But there was still an issue of Stacey's main dish. The manager brought out an appetizer version and had to go back to the kitchen to correct her mistake. Two hours since the lunch started I finally had all the food and was ready to go back...

...but was it really fair of them to expect us to pay? I did not think so. I asked the manager if she really expected us to pay and she said she'll go talk to the manager (excuse me? I thought she was the manager!). The waiter came over and asked if everything was okay and when I told him about the "manager" he said I was free to go. I left the tip, took Stacey's bagged lunch and my dessert and left.

Hopefully the dessert will be really good.
I can't decide if I'll go back to Oya.

Oy Vey.