Proper Grit

For a hotel restaurant, this dining establishment does well to stand out from the crowd of the usual beleaguered hotel restaurants. There’s a sense that it stands on its own, much like Bonvoy’s The Ben, Autograph Collection, in which the restaurant exists. Probably the best part of the whole experience was the staff from the smiling gentleman who poured the first glass of water, to the smiling and dedicated wait staff member Joylene to the very pleasant and helpful hostess Beatrix. Not to forget Steve, the upstanding staff member who delivered the entrée. Very nice service. As for the food, good Bell and Evans roasted chicken with broccolini. Tender white meat and nice semi-fried appeal to the skin. But the roasted brussel sprouts (and broccolini) were absolutely near raw! Nobody wants a difficult time cutting brussels sprouts, a rather expensive side vegetable, particularly when quite undercooked. More like uncooked with a façade of exterior roasting. Two pineapple juices, a pint of bottled water, and a chicken entrée took the whole tab to over $50. But overall, have to hand it to the staff for such positive attitudes and smiling faces despite how hard they have to work each day!

The food and drinks are great and the decor is trendy. The service is definitely hit or miss. We have been twice recently - once just for a cocktail and once for dinner. For cocktails we were there late afternoon/early evening and the bartender did not seem thrilled to have customers (we were the only ones at first), but the drinks were good at least. The food looked good so we came back for dinner a few weeks later. We had a reservation for a late Valentine’s Day celebration/ milestone anniversary dinner. The hostess hard-pressed us to sit at the tiniest table in the whole restaurant (though 2/3 of restaurant was empty as it was right around 6 on a weeknight) and a food tour was going on at two high tops directly next to the tiny table with people standing up around the high tops chatting and we would have had to squeeze in between them to sit. We were eventually reseated but made to feel unwelcome/uncomfortable for politely asking (so much so that we exchanged gifts in the car instead of during dinner, lest we offend anyone for being there any longer at our table). The food was great at least. I highly recommend the bacon and cornbread starter. Our entrees were also fresh and flavorful, as were our cocktails. Our server was also friendly and attentive, much different than our experience being seated. Not sure if I would return on my own due to service issues the two times we have gone, but the food was good enough that I probably wouldn’t turn it down if someone else suggested going there.

It's just the perfect place for date night or any reason to go there. The shrimp and lobster Cajun stew was unbelievably great, my wife had the scallops with a corn puree, the service was just special. Oh don't forget the corn and crab fritters.

Exceptional customer service. The work staff is very friendly and well treated. The food was exquisite.

Order the Zabuton steak med rare. Steak had no flavor the carrots were raw. The charcuterie board and crab fitters were good

This was a last-minute stop for breakfast before we continued onward with our adventures, and we were pleasantly surprised but a beautiful interior in medium stained wood and tons of greenery. Located in The Ben hotel, just north of Clematis Street, Proper Grit offers a nice selection of breakfast items and a very soothing environment. For our meal we ordered the Truffle Egg Croissant (good but not exceptional), and Vanilla French Toast (very good, soft egg bread but serviced with table syrup instead of real maple syrup) and a side of Cheesy Grits (very good and a healthy portion…we couldn’t finish it). Service was nice but a little on the slow. Enjoy!

Me and my husband called 3 times on Sunday morning, no answer. We still decided to go. We got there at 1:15pm. After waiting 5min for hosted to look at us we were told they are full (restaurant was half empty at that point) after pointing out multiple open tables- hosted said “oh yes, you can sit there”. After that we were told they close the kitchen for 30mins to start lunch at 2:30pm and we would not be served any food, mind you it was 1:25pm at that point. We were still supposed to have 30min to order. After questioning it again, hostess checked with a kitchen and said “fine, you’ll be the last table to be served”. We walked out, didn’t want to get food only halfway made. Overall feel, hostess didn’t want to be there, didn’t want us to be there or anyone to be in the restaurant. Just because of this experience will not ever be back. Wouldn’t recommend. A lot of more pleasant places around.

It was our first time there and host was a disaster claiming they're full and they will switch from brunch to lunch even if it was 30-40 minutes away. We had to leave without even sitting based on the treatment we got on a rainy day with many tables available so can't even rationalize it as a busy time and had to give 1 star. We thought it was an upcoming place based on reviews and wanted to try but I will never go back after this.

Excellent food and atmosphere. Our service by Juan and Ruth was superb.

My husband and I had dinner and breakfast. It was an amazing experience fresh and delicious. Gorkom did an excellent service and was very kind as well and Ruth was a very friendly too❤️!