O.Noir a review of sorts (pretty long and detailed)

Yesterday started off with Burlington Rib Fest with Joe and Angela.

The night before we lost a backup hard drive on our Drobo.

All our videos are on there not to mention the only back up we have of our thousands of photos of Ryan. Keeping that in mind we meet up at the Tiger Direct with Joe and Angela in Burlington and figure we can car pool from there. 

We all pile into our car (with Ryan in the car seat in the back). Good thing Ang and Joe are so thin and we were off.

Yesterday was not the nicest day but the cloud cover and slight mist did help to keep the heat at bay which is important to a certain 4 1/2 month old.

We walked around a bit, got some BBQ and enjoyed ourselves. After we had our fill and the sky got a little darker we were on our way.

Neil and I got some 'bad' ice cream. We got soft serve with pineapple but the pineapple had turned so we had to toss it which made us a little sad. However better to be safe then sick when we had such awesome plans for the evening time.

Side note, it always pleases Neil and I how GOOD Ryan is when we take him out. He was just looking around at everything at the rib fest. Only ate once in four hours (didn't want to eat just wanted to look around) and took a little nap in the jogging stroller. He is SUCH an amazing kid when he is outside and there are new things for him to look at.

Got home, showered, washed down Ryan, got dolled up and off to drop the kid at the grand folks place.

Now those of you whom are not lucky enough to live a block from your parents, I feel sad for you. IT IS AWESOME. Gabi and Sandor are SO amazing with Ryan it really is a blessing to have them so close and SO WILLING to take him! I always tell Neil I feel bad dropping Ryan there because he can be a hand full and he always reassures me his folks love having him. They also reassure me by THANKING us every time we drop him off!

Like I said... awesome.

Neil and I were baby free for the night and feeling good. Made our way downtown to pick up Robin (Neils Bro) and Christina (Robins girlfriend & all and all a pretty kick ass chick).

We make it to O.Noir a few minutes early, its amazing how on time we are without the kid! After getting an email from Gabi that Ryan was taking the bottle and being a great kid I was able to stop being a worry wart mom and enjoy our night.

You go down some steps and into the restaurant. The lighting is very dim. You are greeted and asked if you have a reservation. The lady points you to the left, there are a bunch of closed doors as you make you way down to the end of the hall. At the end there is a large room with a few tables in the center and a few places to sit, also a big bar. You are given menus and asked to select what you want.

We chatted for a bit and decided what we were all having.

Christina & I had

Starter : Grilled Calamari on a mixed Green Salad (I had no starter)

Main : Marinated Shrimp with Herbs, served with dried Tomato Risotto 

Dessert : SURPRISE

Robin & Neil had

Starter : SURPRISE

Main : Five Spice Filet mignon served with Potatoes and Vegetables  

Dessert : SURPRISE

And we got a bottle of wine to share, wondering how they were going to refill our glasses. A bottle of wine pours perfect between four people so the server brought the already filled glasses to our table.

At O.Noir they hire blind servers. Our server was great, her name was Chris.

After placing our order we were taken to one of the doors in the hallway and introduced to our server, Chris. She explained to us that we were going to enter the doors behind her and once those were closed go into another room. We got into a line and put our hands on the left shoulder of the person in front of us. Off we went.

We were seated right next to the door. Neil and I were next to each other. Robin was across from me and Christina was across from Neil. Robin and I had a wall next to us. There was a placemat with texture in front of you with a small plate in the center. The fork was to the left and the butter knife to the right. Chris explained all this to us. On our small plate was a little thing of butter for our bread (which Chris put right on your plate). She put the wine glass to the right of me and put my hand on it. (same with our water). This room was BLACK. No light whatsoever so your eyes never adjust. Its pretty cool, you sort of have static in your vision and Christina even was a little dizzy at first. She said she felt like she was on the boat (movement).

Chris explained everything as she did it and was wonderful!

After chatting and light laughter everyone got starters. Since I didn't get one it was very enjoyable to pay attention as everyone tried to eat. Robin and Neil were trying to figure out what they got and Christina was talking about her salad (not to big a fan of it). The guys liked what they had though.

On to the main course. Neil and I were worried. Almost all the reviews said the food was bad. Some said like bad wedding food and others said cafeteria quality. I am a bit of a food snob as is Neil. 

The guys got the steak first. It smelled amazing. It comes out cut up already. I asked Neil for a peice. After reaching for his arm and slowly making my way to his hand and fork I had a peice. It was pretty damn good. Really nicely seasoned and I could tell it was more on the rare side like Neil asked for.

Christina and I got our food. It smelled awesome as well. I felt it lightly with my fingers on my left hand while I held the fork in my right.

I was able to get some risotto (which was sort of dry like a rice not the normal wet risotto I was used to). It was GOOD. The shrimp was nice and big, not over cooked and had a great flavor. It was funny as Christina tried to give a fork full of risotto to Robin and it ended up on him.

I think we all enjoyed our dinners and cleaned our plates pretty good.

The dessert was a sort of moose like chocolate cake with a thin layer of real cake on top. I got a HUGE fork full and got it all over my face. Christina confessed to us later she ate the cake with just her hands. :D

Neil also confessed he had a huge piece of butter on his nose for almost 10 min before realizing it.

We had some coffe and ordered a little extra sweets and chatted for a while in the dark. (Neil and I shared the Fruit Sorbet and Christina got some vanilla ice cream).

It was nice to just sit in the dark enjoying a coffee. I think I agree with Neil that the best moments where sipping the wine and coffee. However the dinner part was fun and really enjoyable.

After we were done you come out of the room (hands on shoulders again) and go into the hall way. The dim light is very bright and it's hard on you at first. You sort of just stand there blinking for a while.

I would go agian and there are a few people I would love to take there. Sunday is a great day to go. If Liz and Chris (our friends from Virgina) ever visit us again we are going to take them there!

I hoped you enjoyed my long review! 

Now to some from breakfast, dry my hair, go get our son and hang out with Robin and Christina again.

Have a great labor day!