I dined at Pazo yesterday with a party of 8. The positives: The decor is very hip, with a modern loft-style two-story dining room. The lighting was flattering. The service was fairly attentive. There was no wait to drop our car with the valets. (But getting the car back was another story ... see below.)
However, the food was completely unimpressive. We ordered the "Tapas for Six" and a few other dishes to supplement, on the waitresses suggestion. Then, we received dish after dish of forgettable food. A doughy loaf of bread, with just a small pepper-oil and low-grade olive oil for flavor. A ceviche that had about 5 parts cucumber to each part fish. A weird plate of just goat cheese and apples. Bland spaghetti squash. Passable but unimpressive empanadas with mild green sauce. The list goes on. The duck was actually tasty, and so was the beef -- although there were only three or four beef slices, not even enough for the "six" people the selections claimed to be for. Oh, and then, I was shocked to see a plate of chicken-on-a-stick with the SAME green sauce they used on the empanadas! I've never seen sauces re-used before at a real restaurant. Maybe at Taco Bell or Olive Garden, but one would think that if you ordered a series of tapas -- chosen by the chef -- you wouldn't run into the same sauce.
The biggest disappointment was "La Bomba," which the waitress said was like a paella. At $75 (for the table to share), this seemed like a splurge. Take it from me -- it's not worth it. This was no paella. This was Zatarain's instant jambalaya, no question. Talk about a profit margin for the restaurant.
The dessert was a bunch of nontraditional cannolis -- they had some kind of frosting-like chocolate-chip creme center rather than the regular sweet cheese. Not bad, but again, it didn't rock anyone's world.
Before leaving, our waitress asked for our valet cards to call our cars. Later, we went to wait for our cars, thinking they'd be there, since we called ahead. However, there were about 30 people standing there waiting to get their cars. People were yelling and the three poor valet guys were running all over the place. We had about a 25 minute wait for our cars.
I had expected a much better experience, particularly in the food-quality and taste arena. I really don't see us going back under any circumstances.
