Terminus

July 21st, 2011, saw the opening of Terminus, a new restaurant located at the site occupied for many years by Michael's Landing and briefly by the Riverfront Restaurant. Owned by Matthew Otten (who's worked at Strega, Aqua and Terzo) and Katherine Otten (most recently employed at Luc), the restaurant employs chef Hamid Serdani (formerly of Le Bistro) and bartender Chris Churilla (formerly of del Alma). With all this talent and experience one would expect great things.

On August 9th I made reservations for 7pm the following evening. We arrived promptly at seven, to be greeted by a young man who asked us to wait while he located the hostess. She arrived about five minutes later. Because the noise level inside the restaurant was too high (despite only about 60% occupancy), we elected to take the one remaining table on the patio (of four). We noted that neither inside nor outside tables were supplied with salt and pepper shakers.

This is probably as good a place as any to expound and expand on a perennial complaint of mine; that the interior of too many dining establishments reflect a lack of consideration for the patrons' eardrums. It seems that most of those responsible for these interiors seem to have a "deaf spot" in their imaginations, focusing exclusively on the visual dimension. Terminus shares this fault, with nothing but hard, flat surfaces, and I know I'd never want to be there when the place is near capacity. The Ottens should make an effort to introduce some sound absorbing elements, perhaps panels on the short walls and some textile art on the full height ones (I can recommend an excellent textile artist who lives in Philomath).

The wine and beer list is short, but offers a decent variety. The on-tap beers included some of our favorites, such as Bear Republic "Hop Rod Rye" and Anderson Valley "Poleeko Gold".

It was eleven minutes after we were seated before our server arrived. We each ordered a glass of wine and an appetizer. The wine arrived in about five minutes, along with some crunchy, tasty bread and some too-hard-to-spread butter. Kathy's wine was a glass of 2010 Illahe Viognier, which had a nice aromatic nose and was decently crisp, while mine was a generous glass of 2008 Les Capucins Coteaux du Languedo, which proved to be a big friendly and fruity red.

It was another twenty minutes before our appetizers arrived. Kathy's escargot was good, tender and not overcooked, and my portabella mushrooms were excellent, a nice melding of ingredients and flavors.

The menu features a dozen entrees, ranging from the $10 burger to the $27 Filet Mignon. There are several vegetarian dishes.

We ordered our entrees when the appetizers were served. Kathy had hoped to order the Artichoke Ravioli but was informed that "the last one was just ordered" (if only the appetizers hadn't taken so long!) so she, like me, ordered the Filet Mignon. We ordered these rare, because so frequently, when we order them medium rare (our preference) they are served medium to well done.

These arrived 22 minutes later, and were rare, as ordered. They were on the cool side, perhaps only slightly warmer than skin temperature. I know it's tricky to achieve a warm rare steak, but I know it can be done. The steaks were very tender and flavorful, and the potatoes and veggies were good too.

For dessert we ordered the cheese board, along with another glass of the red wine (which we shared). The cheese board arrived in 16 minutes and featured four cheeses, bread, nuts and a small assortment of fruit. The cheeses varied from an okay triple cream to an excellent Gruyère.

Our bill came to  $102.

In sum, the food was good, but the service was slow (although our server was personable). Looking at the reviews on Yelp it would seem that the wait times we experienced are typical, and I suspect there are not enough servers to cover the number of tables. I noted with interest that one reviewer mentioned his ribeye steak was ordered medium rare but was served well done.

Terminus is off to a bit of a shaky start, but hopefully things will improve. First and foremost they need to staff up and do something to reduce the noise volume; if they accomplished that, I suppose we could live with no salt & pepper on the tables and the hard butter.

Terminus web site.