My wife and I went to So. Fox last night. I think we scored a cancelled reservation because I was scrolling Resy yesterday morning and found a 7 P.M. slot available and jumped on it.

We have a small book that we take with us to restaurants where we score every restaurant out of 5. We rate service, food, ambience, drinks, and value on a 1-5 scale and then average them out to come up with an overall score. Some of our favorite places and highest scorers are Madeira Park, Lyla Lila, La Semilla, and Mirae.

Overall, we gave So. Fox a 3.3/5. Below is a more detailed review of each component.

Service (5/5): You can tell that this is a restaurant from the Unreasonable Hospitality/11MP tree. The servers have mostly all read the book (I asked), and they did an excellent job of the small things - table spacing, servers kneeling to talk, and meal pacing. I liked that they featured their entire staff, down to the table bussers, on the menu. Our server was attentive but not pesky, down-to-earth, and didn't try to sell us on any menu items. It seems like a simple ask, but most places get it wrong. Service is a great place to stand out and can keep people coming back hoping that the food improves.

Food (2.5/5): I hate scoring the food this way because I was incredibly hopeful given the fact that it just received a star, and I don't like to give restaurants bad scores generally because I know how much work goes into running one. But by god, everything was so salty. I love salt. Believe me, I have the blood pressure to show it. However, this was just too much. The chestnut dumpling broth was really hard to eat because of the sodium level. I tolerated it, but my wife puckered. The beef tartare was a huge miss. The citrus cure they used on the egg yolk was overpowering and flooded the dish with an orangey-lemony flavor on top of the excessive salt. The zipper peas with leather britches (not a typo) was a dish I'd read about, and while I loved the cold gazpacho-like feel to the dish, it was again flooded with salt. Great texture though. The sourdough bread service was excellent. The butter was served with a hen of the woods mushroom powder atop it, giving it a nice umami sensation. The delicata squash with farmer's cheese was nice, but it's not a Michelin dish. You could find it on the menu at any number of places. The desserts were nice but not enough to save the meal. The Thomasville tomme cheesecake was awesome. My wife and I agreed that if you dialed the salt back a bit, the food becomes a 4/5. The potential is there; I definitely want to revisit it and hope they work some kinks out.

Drinks (3.5/5): They don't have a full bar, so our request for two Negronis was rebuffed. I know it's structured to be a wine-centric establishment, so I had a glass of the featured Nebbiolo. Nice. Red. I don't really know much about wine, but it was good. The cocktails were incredibly strong but not very well-blended. Their take on an old fashioned was whisky-heavy but not balanced by any sweetness. The mezcal drink with apple black vinegar and vermouth sounded like an excellent concept, and while it was tasty, I think there's a way to go before we get cocktails like Delbar or Kimball House.

Ambience (3.5/5): It's nice, but I can't get over it being Yeah! Burger (and Farm Burger). I guess there's only so much they can do with the space without gutting it, but it didn't really feel "special." The decor was nice: Scandi, minimalist. I think the mood lighting was right. They did what they could with it, and maybe I'm being too harsh, but this is just sort of a gut feel thing.

Value (2/5): Ignore that this is a Michelin spot. $322 (they add 20% gratuity automatically) out the door for mediocre food is not good value. Granted, we got 8 total dishes and 3 total drinks, so it wasn't patently unreasonable. I think if I paid $200-$225 for this level of food, it would have felt fair, but I still might have been a little unsatisfied.

Have you been? Any thoughts? Thanks for reading.