Mouton

[Bristol Bar]

Yusef-

Well done and well said; hey, it’s a tough ass business and we’re glad to see you here.

[Oak]

I, my boyfriend and my roommate all went into Mouton and had a really nice time when they first opened up. I have been a server, bartnder, bar manager, cook, dishwasher and customer in a lot of restaurants. So my penny of thoughts comes with years of experience in the industry behind it. It was warm in there (hence the HVAC issues) but I figured they’d get it cooled down. I even comment to my group that I bet it was hard to cool a place with those types of windows. The olives were good, the wine was good, the prosciutto was the best. One thing that seemed to be a take-back was the tap water. IMO if youre going to serve top knotch wine, cheese and prosciutto, then at least have a filter to make your water not taste like city water. Imagine this situation “This wine is surpurb and the cheese is magnificent, let me clean my palette before a taste of the prosciutto with this….tapwater”. A filtered water would really add to the experience. Yes, it was a little on the pricey side, but I knew I was paying for an experience, not just the food and drink.
There were a couple of other wrinkles, but my experience in the industry allowed me to chalk them up to opening challanges and not crucial failures. However, people will only tolerate “we’re new and figuring it out” for so long (like a couple of weeks) before they abandon you. I went to Rossi once when they opened, they screwed everything up, were arrogant about it (a la Apple/Stever Jobs/iPhone 4) and I never went back. My suggestion is that everytime there is a challenge repeat the mantra “react, adapt, overcome” and let that help you find the path to fix it.
My thoughts are not meant to be malicious, but constructive. As the person of in charge of client care for my company – i also put a lot of emphasis on the guest experience every time they interact with us.
I think the concept is solid and there is a lot of potential in the place. I’m going to wait a few more weeks to let more of the wrinkles iron themselves out and give it another shot. Having traveled in Europe, i’m really excited to see a taste of Continental Europe (which I miss dearly) in Columbus.
Ps – my boyfriend loves your prosciutto and thought it was priced well. Wrap it around some melon and he might not leave your place! :)

[Elizabeth Lessner]

Oak, are you sure the water wasn’t filtered? I ask because all water that comes from a soda gun has to be filtered. Hard water destroys the soda gun lines. Not sure if they use a soda fountain/gun at Mouton. Most tap water in restaurants is actually filtered when it hits your glass.

[Oak]

Liz – not sure – but it def tasted like city water. Not sure where it came from (gun or tap) but I detest city water so much that I have Ice Mountain deliver water to my house. It had that treated-with-chemicals-and-chlorine-with-a-floride-back taste to it. I could be wrong tho – I’m good, but not infallable (especially with my spelling). If it was from a gun – i’d have multi-flow look at that filter.

[Elizabeth Lessner]

We get a lot of requests in our restaurants for bottled water. We always let customers know our water has been filtered and they’re always surprised to learn this.

[Mercurius]

Oak wrote >>
Liz – not sure – but it def tasted like city water. Not sure where it came from (gun or tap) but I detest city water so much that I have Ice Mountain deliver water to my house. It had that treated-with-chemicals-and-chlorine-with-a-floride-back taste to it. I could be wrong tho – I’m good, but not infallable (especially with my spelling). If it was from a gun – i’d have multi-flow look at that filter.

New Flash: Ice Mountain is filtered city water from the City of Hillard. Bottled by Nestle.

[Oak]

*jaw drops* I’m supposed to be getting the Spring Water! I best not be paying for bottled Hilliard water (mental note to investigate) but I refer back to my comment that it doesn’t taste like city water. But we digress & derail – this is supposed to be about Mouton – not Nestle possibly screwing me.

[suziwest]

Yusef and the Mouton crew were cool enough to collaborate with us this week in honor of Bastille Day. Heading over there tonight to have a taste of Lillet. Feel free to join us. One thing I do love about this community (both CU participants and Short North zealots) is their willingness to reach out.

[michaelcoyote]

suziwest wrote >>
Heading over there tonight to have a taste of Lillet.

I had that last night. It was very refreshing after an evening watching soccer and eating brats :-)

[columbusguy20]

I find it amusing how quickly the tone changed over the past few hours. One minute, some folks on here are ready to swear this place off forever and say that Yusef was ‘verklempt’ or however that is spelled, then the next it’s almost the complete opposite! If a total stranger, oblivious to the scene here in Columbus, happened to browse through this post, they would have thought that Mouton was a place to be avoided like the plague and that the owners need to be skinned alive.

Cut the man some slack already. Aren’t we ALL allowed to make mistakes in life? Yeesh!

[Bristol Bar]

Uh, yea. I’ve had people praise Bristol and also in a rage talk about “that ghetto ass bar…” Columbus is unpredictable. They love what they love and yet can hate what they hate. No rime or reason.

[Andrew Hall]

columbusguy20 wrote >>
I find it amusing how quickly the tone changed over the past few hours. One minute, some folks on here are ready to swear this place off forever and say that Yusef was ‘verklempt’ or however that is spelled, then the next it’s almost the complete opposite! If a total stranger, oblivious to the scene here in Columbus, happened to browse through this post, they would have thought that Mouton was a place to be avoided like the plague and that the owners need to be skinned alive.
Cut the man some slack already. Aren’t we ALL allowed to make mistakes in life? Yeesh!

That is a good point, albeit errant.

CU is not a bi-polar dynamic, oppositional dynamic like a Yelp. (And you are badly mis-reading a lot of the comments like it were Yelp.) Many of the positions are orthogonal or represent a parallel of interests. It is naturally, wonderfully, positively going to messy. It is unfortunate that a casual or lazy reader is going to see the Yelp-like aspects only, but I think it is also the great strength of CU and what makes it a valuable resource. There are people posting in this thread who are greatly respected professionals in exactly this field and their advice, freely given in the spirit of community, is gold. (Mr Guffens, eg). Others, like myself fwiw, are both customers as well as have a stake in the greater SN or CMH community (orthogonal people). You don’t get that on a customer-centered site.

A.

[WildmanDan]

now the sign as I walked by shows opening time but for closing just shows closing time. So can still kick me out whenever they feel tired since I can only guess if they are still open?

[Bear]

As to the change of tone: not sure whether it’s CU-specific but few things generate hostility here as quickly as perceived unfairness, arbitrariness, or indifference to a customer—across many threads, businesses, and years.

And nothing—nothing—turns that hostility into warmth and goodwill as quickly as the proprietor coming on and saying “I f**ked up, I’m sorry, and it won’t happen again.”

(Or, sometimes, when the facts warrant it, “I actually didn’t f**k up, you haven’t gotten the whole story, here it is.” But that one can go either way.)

[catnfiddle]

I still REALLY want to try this place, especially if they make a good sidecar.

[Author]

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