I must preface this review by saying that I have eaten at McCormick & Schmick's in Washington, D.C., and McCormick & Kuleto's in San Francisco, and collectively, they were two phenomenal dining experiences.

That said, I visited the new McCormick & Schmick's, 2550 N. Mayfair Rd., in Wauwatosa, with high expectations. And to say I was disappointed would be a huge understatement.

McCormick & Schmick's has restaurants in 26 states, and the Wisconsin edition is a lovely new construction of wood and stained glass, highlighting a beautiful wooden bar and a stained glass dome reflecting the Wisconsin Flag and our day and date of statehood (May 29, 1848).

The menu here is similar to their other restaurants in that they provide a rotating list of nearly 30 types of fresh seafood flown in daily at the header, and various presentations of each below in the general menu. The menu is printed twice daily -- for lunch and for dinner -- so while some standard selections like shrimp cocktail ($12.95) are always there, others will slightly alter or phase themselves out at the end of the season.

Our first visit brought with it one of the more odd dining experiences I've had in 30 some years. Our server, although quite friendly, was blatantly struggling with all the information she needed to tell us about the menu and our options. After many long, awkward pauses, she lost my attention completely when my dining companion asked if they had any soft shell crab available since it is now in season (soft shell crab season commences early in May and goes through early July).

She said no, but then corrected herself and said blue crab was soft shell crab so he should order that because it was the same. She was, of course, correct in that soft shell crab is blue crab in its molted state, but the two are quite different in texture and in the way they are eaten. Soft shell crabs are a delicacy because you can actually consume the entire crustacean, while the blue crab on the menu appeared predominantly in lump form as a stuffing mixture for another entrée or as a crab cake.

A server during the second visit referred to my dining companion as "dude" and me as "hon" while waiting on us. This felt a bit inappropriate when paying nearly $30 a plate.

Food here, too, seemed to face some challenges. A chilled seafood sampler ($39.95) featured king crab (minus the claws), jumbo prawns, a ramekin of blue crab, crackers, tomatoes, cucumbers, oysters and smoked salmon roll-ups. Compared to similar platters at other restaurants, this was terribly disappointing, and while our oysters were well separated from the half-shells, each was riddled with flecks of shells. We were unsure of how to eat the blue crab in the ramekin, and our server admitted he didn't know, either.

Two of our entrees suffered the pains of a too-hot grill, which gave the grill marks an unpleasant charred taste on otherwise pleasant dishes. The halibut ($27.95) was otherwise flaky and delicious. The accompanying green risotto had a bit too much parmesan for my taste, but was otherwise decent.

Steak and fried shrimp ($29.95) had the same charring problem but was successfully cooked to temperature. Chilean Sea Bass ($27.95) with oyster mushrooms and pancetta was flavorful, but needed to be cut with a knife. Baked crab stuffed shrimp ($26.95) came with a bland lemon butter sauce, asparagus and carrots.

Other items we sampled were at average. Based on the amazing happy hour traffic McCormick & Schmick's runs, these options are likely more worth a visit between 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. to close on weekdays, where choices run from $1.95 to $4.95 with minimum drink purchases.