The Family Continues to Tirami Su’ of Northville, MI
In case you missed it, Mr. YUM, kiddo and myself headed off for a little road trip to visit Tom + Chee opening weekend. We spent some time in downtown Northville, MI (<—check out our fairy adventure on Nevermore Lane.) It was such a good time that we ended up staying for dinner.
I pulled up my handy, dandy Yelp app and started to explore. (You really should friend me on Yelp 😉 )
We didn’t really want to get back in the car and head back to downtown because we were still trying to find a few more fairy houses.
A handful of the places were closed; I assume since it was Sunday. Mr. YUM mentioned he saw this Tirami Su’ around the corner. I remember seeing it too, but not because of the restaurant itself but because it’s housed in a condo building. I love these downtown condos. And this one made me feel like I was in a big city because downstairs on the first floor was the Italian restaurant, a yoga studio, a frozen yogurt shop, a gym, and a handful of other shops. If you lived in these condos you could just walk and have your pick of amenities. I like that part of city living, although I have never lived in a downtown area. I always thought it would be cool.
When I saw it was an Italian restaurant, I am not sure what I was thinking. Perhaps an Olive Garden type thing. We headed in and I immediately felt under-dressed. When hubs inquired on whether or not there was a dress code, we were told we were fine. Judging from the decor I would say not. But, judging from the rest of the folks already seated, we were dressed just fine. With the exception of a few tables that showed up after we did who were all dressed up.
Yelp told me this was not a good place to eat. I’d say 1 out of 4 would talk about how authentic and yummy this place was. The others talked about how the food was blah and certainly not worth the price. I was a little worried but Mr. YUM wanted to check it out anyway.
I should have listened to Yelp.
The menu was ridiculous. No offense. We can afford meals like this, but really – why should we? I realize its not super expensive, but for this price, I want something spectacular. And, they didn’t have a kids dinner menu. Excuse me? She’s only 10. We still need a kids menu. Yes, she eats a lot sometimes. But, she’s not going to eat an entire plate of pasta, that much I can tell you.
So, $15 for a plate of Alfredo.
And, she didn’t like it.
She is very picky about her mac & cheese and Alfredo so it’s a 50/50 every time she orders it. This time, I can’t say that I blamed her for not liking it. It was more like a thick milk with no flavor than an actual Alfredo sauce. She tried to pretend she liked it, then she just said she was full. Bless her heart for trying.
Mr. YUM ordered the Gnocchi Ragu, $15. Only he swapped the Ragu sauce for Palamino sauce (tomato cream.) He was excited to get a whole plate of Gnocchi but was really disappointed when he didn’t like the sauce. I figured that was going to happen because he doesn’t like cream based sauces. He took 2 bites and was done. I can’t say that I blame him, I wasn’t a big fan either.
I ordered the Seafood Fettuccine, $19. I picked out the seafood. My sauce was the same as his and I am telling you – there was NO flavor. I was not happy.
For that price point I want WOW, I want special…at the very least I want FLAVOR!
Sadly, the best part of my meal was my salad.
When we first arrive our waitress was attentive. I wonder if she could tell we were not thrilled with our food upon arrival because afterwards it seems like we waited forever for service. Normally I wouldn’t say anything, but this was something that came up on Yelp quite often, too.
Needless to say we took doggie bags and left. I was severely disappointed. To make things worse, it started pouring down rain as we left and couldn’t complete the fairy hunting.
Hubs was nice and turned down the corner so kiddo could get out, scoot across the street and leave one last penny for the fairy and marked another home off her list of fairy houses to visit.
The only good thing is that hubs cleaned off his gnocchi, added olive oil, garlic and some other seasoning and was able to eat his. I tried to get creative with the other two, but it wasn’t happening.
Food disappointments; they happen.
Tell me yours.
Food disappointments do happen, and often to me! So sorry you experienced it too!I can’t believe they didn’t have a kids menu. I haven’t ever been to a place where they didn’t, if so well I’d have to leave obviously but that’s just uncool.I wouldn’t pay $15 my kids would probably end up not liking it either. Hopefully the next place you go doesnt let you down!
Oh yeah. I learned the hard way that you should always listen to Yelp. It’s there to help us.
I will need to start checking yelp. I’m awful and never do! Turns out after this post I checked yelp for the places I went and was disappointed and we’ll, I’m not surprised!
That stinks that they yelp reviews were right!! I have been thankful a couple times the opposite has happened and we have had amazing food.
That is awful you had such a horrible experience. I love to look up reviews on Yulp it can be very telling of a restaurant.
I’ve had some disappointing meals before, sadly. I’ve even had some at restaurants I love… just off nights. If I do try a new restaurant and it’s not good/great, I will give it one more chance, if it’s bad the second time… that’s it, won’t be eating there again. Sorry you guys had such a bad experience/dinner.
Yep, some restaurants will disappoint. Sorry to hear about your experience. I’ve had epic disappointments too and some of them were quite pricey, which makes them even more disappointing.
Just because a restaurant has high end prices dies not mean that the food is any good! I have run into this several times over the years. Well, live and learn as I always say–at least now you know not to go back to that restaurant again!
I had no idea you could even friend someone on Yelp shows how long it’s been since I have visited Yelp! Food disappointments are definitely worse when it is a restaurant you frequent, one you don’t know you expect can be hit or miss, but when it happens somewhere you actually go to often it really sucks!
My brother lives south of Detroit. Next time I visit I will suggest we take a ride to check out Tirami Su – we are always willing to take a ride for a great meal.
Actually, you may want to skip this one.
Oh yeah, it happens. What’s even more disappointing is when you visit your favorite restaurant after some time and find out that the food doesn’t taste the same.
I hate food disappointments! Normally my husband can make a bad meal into a good meal and then look at me and say, ‘What? It wasn’t that bad?’. I know a good meal and it stinks to not get a good one when you are paying for it and I hate to complain so I just suck it up.
I didn’t realized how handy yelp could be…going to go check it out now. Thanks so muchf for sharing and it looks like you definitely came across a great restaurant…
I’m sorry you weren’t please with your meal! I hate when sauces have no flavor.
Oh no, that’s a shame…in all fairness though, not all restaurants have a kids menu, so we try to find ones that cater to kids. That alone wouldn’t upset me (I’d probably share some of my meal with my kids or get them a meal to share) and that your husband ordered something cream based when he doesn’t like that isn’t their fault, nor was the rain. The lack of flavor is the real shame….next time, listen to yelp 😉
At this place you could have shared a meal, but they add $4 to shared meals. Kiddo is a big eater when she is hungry so I were were more worried sharing would not give her enough.
Hubs doesn’t like Alfredo sauce. This was more of a Vodka sauce, which he does like. Even the waitress explained it as such. Its tomato sauce with a bit of cream. So, I find a bit of fault with both. But the gnocchi wasn’t good either. It wasn’t cooked thoroughly. Can’t say we complained about the rain, that was after the meal was done anyway and we still had fun in it.
In our house, 3 people ordering 3 different meals and no one being happy is rare and worth mentioning. But maybe thats just me.
1 out 4 negative reviews! you give the the benefit of the doubt. Im a picky eater, because of that I trust my yelp reviews.
I’ve had some at restuarnt so before. It happens but a good cook and waitress will check the food and make you another batch for free. The bad ones, say it’s you, not them. That’s when we decide never to return.
I havent been to too many restaurants where they will bring us something else and not require us to pay for what we didn’t eat. I would think that if all 3 of us were unhappy they would correct it somehow, but I didn’t even want to raise the attention.
Sorry that your daughter didn’t like her dinner but impressed who maturely she handled it.
The kid may only be 10, but she does know her food. 🙂
I’ve tried Tirami Su before but only store bought, never from a restaurant. I’m not even sure if we have restaurants around here that offer it 🙁 Thank you for the great post though! 🙂
Sadly, we didn’t like dinner so we didn’t even order their namesake dessert.
Aw bummer! Bad food can ruin an entire day. I know every time we try somewhere new that disappoints it is always hard to bounce back from.
I’ve had plenty of food disappointments but not usually at that price point. I’m with you; if I order a $15 plate of alfredo then it better taste like alfredo.
Sorry things didn’t work out! Better luck with your next excursion!
We’ve been using Yelp to find new restaurants lately, and so far they’ve mostly been good. I hate when we find a new restaurant to try and it’s awful. I’m so sorry your experience was bad.
I dont normally use Yelp but I do use TripAdvisor. I leave reviews, good and bad, about places we go. Hopefully the bad ones will eventually turn to good.
OH this looks like a great place to experience. I am so happy to read your posts, keep on trucking on and enjoy the times!
I hate when you have a bad experience out, it is always such a disappointment. Hoping next time is better.