date: 2/20/07
location: minneapolis
grade: b/b-

a guest review.

chambers was very busy the night we went (tuesday even), which resulted in an intermittent waitress. she was excellent when she was with us, but then gone for long, very long, stretches of time. that said, she did give good recommendations and the water was frequently refilled.

the space was bustling, but my view didn't fit the vibe. while my dining companions had views of crowds and bamboo, i had a view of a wall with pipes and an exit door. it looked a lot like an apartment building laundry room and it was hard to be in a festive mood while thinking of the folding i had to do at home.

we started with a very good appetizer - crispy goat cheese fondue - this was the highlight of the meal. the melted cheese was a perfect consistency, and the accompaniments gave it a great mix of sweet, salty, and spicy. i continued with two other appetizers - the butternut squash soup, which was very buttery but lacking some squash flavor, and the bacon-wrapped shrimp, which i felt i could have made at home. others had the striped bass crusted in spices and mahi-mahi with malaysian chili sauce. the mahi-mahi had a nice level of heat which grew on you, but the rest seemed a bit bland. the bass was the best, with a mix of spice and sweet. i thought the cumin to be slightly overpowering, but overall it was a nice dish.

there were some small issues with the service and decor, but the clunker of chambers was that the food wasn't transcendent. and we expected it would be with a big name chef and big name prices. it was just good. we didn't feel like having dessert which is unusual for us.

the fact that the menu is unchanging makes this a place we probably wouldn't return to unless it was for a special occasion and one of our friends REALLY REALLY just really wanted to go. i had a similar food experience at vong (jean-georges' manhattan restaurant), so i guess i wasn't totally surprised at chambers, but at least at vong it didn't seem like i was in someone's basement.

and i just have to say their website sucks. for the love of god, people should know how to design usable websites by now.

(zan's note... see, sometimes it's not just me...)