michael mina did not disappoint us one bit!\n\nas you walk into the restaurant, you'll see meat in the windows by the grill aging to perfection.  and as expected, everything from the food to the service to the ambiance was amazing.  as soon as we got to our tables, a happy birthday card awaited us which was very thoughtful and cute.  our server was extremely helpful especially with choosing a wine to celebrate wifey's birthday.  he generously brought out a couple of samples of wine and was very knowledgeable of each type.  i love how they bus your plates immediately and how our drinks never touched the bottom of our glasses.  FANTASTIC service.\n\nthe trio of fries were delish...but we tried so hard not to eat all of it for fear of not being able to finish our main course.  the truffle mayo was exquisite...and it was dang hard not to soak up every single fry in it.  the fresh out of the oven rosemary focaccia bread was WOW.  i didn't even get a chance to take a picture of it cause we just dove right in.  it was buttery, warm, and so good that after a couple of pieces, i found myself not trying to look at it or else i'd devour the rest of it.  \n\nboth of us ordered off the prix fixe menu which was well worth the pricetag of $55 each.  don't forget your restaurant.com gift certificate which takes 50 bucks off your bill!  we took advantage of the discount and decided to order an appetizer...so we got meat at its purest level...the kobe filet tartare.  man oh man...if i could, i'd skip everything else on the menu and just order 3 of those for myself.  the server came to our tableside with a plate of the diced kobe, a quail egg, and seasonings.  he mixed the tartare right in front of us explaining every single ingredient and placed the mixture into a bowl with ice.  it was served with some pita bread.  the tartare itself was enough to give this place 5 stars...the quality of the kobe was amazing!  a must try when you come here...\n\nnow the first course...wifey had the crab chowder while i chose the bibb salad.  the server said that every bowl of crab chowder is made to order.  the chunks of crab in the bowl were generous...and the broth itself was super tasty.  but my salad...mMmmm...i absolutely love blue cheese...and my salad had 2 different types.  wifey gave me the stink face though but was still willing to try it.  yummy!!!\n\nwe both decided to order the slow poached prime rib...who wants to order chicken from a steak house?  the server warned us that ordering medium guarantees you medium rare...which was perfect for us.  so medium it is!!!  the prime rib was super tasty and tender.  no juices splattered over the plate which means that the chef knew what the heck he was doing.  it was served with a side of delish au jus and creamy horseradish.  our entree also came with 3 sides...peas and carrots, truffled mac n cheese, and bacon creamed spinach.  i left the peas and carrots alone since they weren't anything special...and devoured the rest of the side dishes.  the truffled mac n cheese was OMG good.  don't truffles just make everything that much better?  yum.  \n\nand then dessert...root beer float with sassafras ice cream and root beer sorbet...served with chocolate chip cookies baked to order...oh, and a chocolate straw.  the server was nice enough to even put a candle on wifey's plate and happy birthday written with chocolate.  before we tried our dessert, we had to ask ourselves...how good can a root ber float possibly be?  haha.  this root beer float was of course, the best root beer float i have ever had.  amazingness.\n\nloved this place...can't wait to try michael mina's other restaurants...i've heard great things about his lobster pot pie.  yummy!