Corners Tavern, Walnut Creek

There are restaurants where the menu reads like a novel you cant put down, menus where every item sounds wonderful and you cant decide, already anxious to return to try the next goodie. The Girl and The Fig and Bouchon come to mind.
We knew we were in trouble at Corners Tavern when we felt let down that there wasn't a special.
On a very wet Thursday night we were excited to try this outpost from the group that brought us one of our favorites in SF, Town Hall. The scene was buzzing, very busy with a wide range of characters from the young pros to lady's night out. We were seated in the bar at a comfortable communal coach and coffee table with friendly strangers while waiting for our table, very thirsty for that first imbibing of spirit. The 15 minute wait for service felt like an hour as the server went around our table again and again. Sure enough, just as we began to order, the hostess announces our table is ready, which means another 15 minutes "longest mile" until a drink order is secured.
The setting is very warm and welcoming, wood and steel combined with eclectic details...kind of Industrial Chic meets Alice in Wonderland. All in all, very nice, but the concrete floors and high open ceiling results in a noise level that requires your outside voice for a conversation, further feeding the decibel level. The huge roll up doors will be a wonderful idea for warm summer nights, allowing the dining room to spill out to the small patio.
Our servers were attentive, friendly and knowledgeable. When we expressed an urgency for our initial cocktail due to our wait, they brought us some marinated peppers gratis. A nice treat thank you, but not exactly the best partner to the delicate and lovely Gin, Grapefruit and Dimmi Liqueur "Midnight on the Riviera". The original cocktail list  reads like the menu, somewhat interesting, but again nothing that screams "I need that", as witnessed by wife's beer order.
The menu dilemma was also defined by my usually adventurous brides ordering of the Corner Burger. It was "good" but lost in a massive bun. It continued to play out with my order of the fried flounder filet, shishito peppers, fingerling salad, piquillo aioli. The fish was excellent, fried with a deft hand and served with a generous serving of very good potato salad...but in the end it was just that, fried fish and potatoes. With this restaurant group's resume, was it too much to expect more? Perhaps they feel the Walnut Creek food scene is not quite ready for prime time.
The dessert offerings continued the trend, five somewhat unenthusiastic choices. The Banana Beignets were perfectly fried, but the chocolate stout sauce, while tasting of quality chocolate were devoid of any measurable benefit of stout.
Whether it was our lightly voiced concern of a slow start to service, or our sharing of the wine we brought with a server, the $20 corkage was waived, bringing the total to a manageable $65. The tariff was not a concern, as the food we had was satisfying, but just.
While the food scene continues to evolve in Walnut Creek, the migration of SF level originality to our municipality is moving at a glacial pace. One would hope this group might expedite the process.