As much as I would like to continue to recommend M&M, our latest two visits were not up to the standards that made our initial visits so memorable. It does not appear I am alone, since the dining area on a beautiful Saturday evening had more empty tables than occupied, while other restaurants (in particular Little Alley next door) were booming.

If you are using Waze or GPS set your guidance for Little Alley Steak House, and drive past its valet and Mission and Market is just beyond it on the right. If you place Mission and Market in the GPS it will take you to the rear, delivery entrance.

Once you arrive, there are two dining areas, the bar in the front and the dining room in the rear, plus outdoor seating overlooking Lenox. Our server arrived immediately upon our being seated and started very strong with recommendations on food and wines.

I ordered the Grilled Spanish Octopus Hazelnut Romesco, with Shaved Vegetables. It was beautifully plated and while the Romesco sauce was delicious, the octopus was flavorless, with a spongy texture that was more aligned with it being boiled. Likewise, there was little seasoning on the dish. It was disappointing.

I also ordered the special entrée of the evening, which was described by the server as grouper over a risotto infused with white asparagus oil. I asked the server if it also contained white asparagus and she replied there were pieces of white asparagus as part of the accompaniments. The dish arrived and it was beautifully plated. The four, small fish pieces were inconsistently cooked. The biggest drawback was the complete and total lack of seasoning. There was little in the fish itself I could recommend. On the other hand, the risotto was delicious, great flavor.

For dessert we ordered the chocolate tart, which comes with Jeni’s coffee, cream and sugar ice cream. We asked if we could substitute the salty caramel ice cream from one of the other desserts and the server was agreeable. She approached a few minutes later and informed us they were out of the other, and offered plain vanilla. The dessert was the best part of the meal, fantastic flavors in the rich, dense chocolatey goodness.

I almost felt sorry for our server. She was performing her tasks plus, delivering some of the food and bussing the finished plates. While we very much enjoyed the room and the company, the food was extremely disappointing, for the second straight visit. Others at the table said the duck was extremely salty, while my wife enjoyed her salmon.

Mission and Market started strong last year, but it needs to refocus on the food if it expects me, and others to return.