This first visit had been built up by one of the members of our party, and I have to say that either she has very different perspectives on dining, or this part of the Roy's chain was having an off night.

The evening started strong. I sat at the bar while I waited for folks to arrive, and enjoyed the Hawaiian Martini -- a little girlie, but delicious. And though I hadn't ordered it, the barman brought a cup of the cold gazpacho. Also delicious + bonus points for gratis appetizers.

It wasn't until after we were seated that the experience began to flag a little. From the start, the waiter was campy and annoying. It was just incongruous with the tone of the establishment. Perhaps he had recently been employed at Friday's or some place more casual. Either way, I fully admit that it is half of the reason for a less-than-stellar review.

Of course the other half was the food. The lobster potstickers were ok, but sounded better than they actually were -- a little under-seasoned, and needed more ginger or something. The calamari was exactly the same as every other plate of calamari ever served. The sushi rolls were uninspired and not as good as what I can get from the hole in the wall around the corner. And, Roy's Classic Trio was just another tapas-style sampler that I regretted ordering as soon as it arrived (3 sampler-sized portions didn't seem to equal one full entree portion).

At the end of the day, if any single item had been off, the experience would have come across with a much higher estimation of value. But the cumulative effect for me was that it seemed a little too chain, a little too mass-production, and just missing something.

Tonight, my husband and I had the pleasure of dining at this wonderful place. I made reservations online about 1 1/2 weeks ahead of time for a 5:30 pm seating. When I was entering my information for the onine reservation, I added that we would be celebrating our one year anniversary and that we requested a romantic table.

We got there right at 5:30 and didn't even use the complimentary valet parking, since there were plenty of open spots. An extremely friendly employee quickly opened the door for us and greeted us with a warm "Aloha!, welcome to Roy's". We stepped up to the podium and I told the little lady that we had a reservation. She quickly looked it up and then greeted us with a "happy anniversary!".

Our booth was perfect and still in view of the kitchen. There was a string of pink and red ribbons on the lamp above the table (I later learned that this signified the staff that we were celebrating an anniversary). We had two gentlemen as servers and they were both amazing. They both knew the menu like the back of their hand and were very helpful in recommending dishes.

We received our menus, which are impressive in their own right, and were suprised to see that the first page was a custom printed message to us. It had our names, the date, and a beautiful poem about love. It was truly special. Later in the night, the staff rolled the custom printed papers up, tied them with ribbon, and handed them to us to take home.

Strangely, the complimentary starter was edamame, which is some sort of chinese bean. They are still in the pod and seasoned on the outside. I was a little skeptical, but they were actually good! It almost tasted like a peanut/lima bean, but with some spicy seasoning.

The only thing that caught our eye on the appetizer menu were 'chicken spring rolls', but they were part of a larger sampler platter. The kitchen staff was kind enough to accomodate us and create a 'chicken spring roll' only appetizer for us. They were really good and a great way to get my tastebuds going.

Next, I had the Asian pear salad (AMAZING) and my husband had the Hydro butter salad (it's made with a wasabi-ranch dressing, so it's a little hot).

Main courses: I had the beef short ribs (again, amazing. The beef was SO tender and cut with a fork) and hubby had the sirloin (the mashed potatoes with this are made with wasabi, but was hotter than the ranch dressing. I enjoyed the regular mashed potatoes with mine better than the wasabi-mashed).

The staff was kind enough to give us complimentary dessert for our anniversary! We ordered the vanilla creme' brule... which was the most amazing thing I have ever sampled. It came with a variety of berriers and they even wrote "Happy Anniversary" (with chocolate) in Hawaiian script on the plate. It was perfect.

We ordered: 1 soda, 1 appetizer, 2 salads, and 2 entrees and our total was $78 (before tip).

Overall it was amazing. Our glasses were never empty. The server walked me to the restroom (instead of just pointing) and he folded my napkin while I was gone! All of the floor managers stopped by to check on us and each recognized the red and pink ribbons and told us 'Happy Anniversary'. Roy's was such an amazing experience and I definitely recommend it to everyone.

Great special occasion place. Everything is super quality here.

Sorry, folks, just don't get this one....Fish was flavorful, but very small portions at very steep prices.....Mango mojito was OK...I orderded the duck spring roll as an appetizer, and I guarantee you that they made 1,000 of the rolls with one duck....I could not taste the duck at all.....I orderded the Proscuitto wrapped Ono for my entree, which was tasty but only came with ONE small blue crab tortellini....We had the moten chocolate dessert, which was fabulous and free as a gift from the concierge at the Ritz where we were staying.

Maybe I am spoiled as I am used to the best seafood restaurants being from Boston.....