text: A city restaurant without a website how quaint I do not think I would have ever discovered it without Yelp I first sought it out based on reviews a few years ago and I remember thoroughly enjoying a salad on the patio on a fine summers day Then earlier this spring my partner and I stopped by to read the menu my partner noted the sorta high prices and I noted the total lack of vegan options Someone from inside popped out to let us know that they were not yet open for dinner it was bw lunch and dinner time and asked if we would like to make a reservation for later all in a very kind and inviting manner I mentioned that I was hoping to find something vegan and she assured me that the chef could make something We passed that time due to cheap partner but I knew I would return for some al fresco joy and earlier this week I did I called ahead to make a reservation and to make sure they were really ok with making a vegan entree When we arrived the vegan thing was acknowledged by our server and we were seated in the best spot on the patio next to the cute and oddly gregarious turtles We were handed some well used paper menus and our cheap sparkling wines were properly chilledcorkedstored From then on things got awkward My dining companion who kept baby talking to the turtles throughout the meal and even feeding them coerced me into drinking her recently deceased grandmothers favorite cheap sparkling wine Asti and we made a toast to this woman I never had the pleasure of meeting And we were left with crusty menus that which had no apparent vegan selections and waited for the server to um maybe uh mention what they could do Instead she came to take our order And I had to explain that since nothing is really vegan on the menu I needed her to describe what could be made vegan Uhhhh the mushroom consomme annnnd a saladummmlet me go ask the chef The chef had an excellent answer it is a mystery to me as to why he was not consulted earlier I did try the mushroom consomme to start which was alright I would not order it again and ordered the chefs special with was described as a zucchini stuffed with spiced cous cous Sounded boring But as presented it had a lot going on I almost feared it had too much going on tomato sauce capers walnuts basil golden raisins cinnamon bread crumbswhoa Was it going to be as clumsy as our service No It was well composed and very satisfying to my palate which was maybe only slightly deteriorated from drinking Asti The chef also sent out some complimentary small bites before our entrees I imagine because the special dish was expected to take longer than a usual menu item though it did not seem like an especially long wait Awesome gesture as it proved someone was on their toes At the end of the meal we had our second most painful conversation with the server regarding coffee It should have been a pretty simple exchange really I ordered espresso and my friend asked if the coffee was french pressed Instead of just saying no we got some bumbling convoluted answer that left us confused I was able to gather that no it was not french press coffee and that either the coffee or espresso or both were from some sort of pod like maybe a machine that sort of presses a podMy friend bewildered just ordered an espresso but I had to ask soooo is the espresso from a pod thingy Yepok I am sorry but I do not want the espresso and I joked about drawing the line at imitation champagne No fun I tried to be really kind and easy going to make up for being such a damn snob an inconvenience at every turn for trying to understand what was being offered As I watched our server describe the specials to an arriving table counting the two of them on her fingers as if she was twisting each special off of a finger and squeezing it into her palm I felt sorry for those others who came to endure her writhing translations As much as I appreciated my special dish and service aside I probably would not put them through the trouble of having me dine again I do not believe the menu changes very often definitely not every day as the name suggests as it did not seem particularly seasonal for example one of their two desserts featured pumpkin which even though it is none of my business I thought was weird for late June nor much if at all different from my previous visits and certainly not freshly printed nnNonplussedn Cash only as in bring it n Very pleasant patio for those rare perfect daysn With friendly turtles until turtle soup season maybe next yearn BYOBn Capable and accommodating kitchen to make up for noncommunicative servern Worth trying especially if you do not have dietary restrictions you have expendable cash it is a nice day to spend with turtles and you want to provide your own AstinnHrm the nonplussed point system might be my new method of expressing cynical optimism