Beckett's Table....New Restaurant

Last night, one of my good friends, from eateraz.com, introduced one of my best girlfriends and I to a new restaurant called Beckett's Table located at 3717 East Indian School Rd. They have been open for only two weeks.  
Upon arrival, it seemed quite inviting with patio seating out front and walls of windows that open up to let the outside in.  The interior was very open as well with wooden table’s strewn through-out, as well as a long high-top community table that sat approximately 20 people.  It was fairly crowded, so we grabbed a few seats that were open at the end of one of the high-tops. Immediately, we were approached with menus and water. 
At first, as we grazed the menu selections, the food choices seemed amazing with the different elements in each dish.  We couldn't wait to dig in.  When our waiter arrived and learned it was our first time, he started his "script" of what dish was best from each category on the menu, including what the specials were.  Quite honestly, it was way too much information and took a long time for him to finish.  Don't get me wrong, he was awesome with his description of the menu and his service all night long, but it was just too much at the time. And to top it all off, we had a really hard time talking because of how loud it was in the restaurant.  The tables seem to be extra wide as well, which didn’t add to the problem of being able to hear each other.
We didn't recognize many of the wines on the list, but we were game for trying at least two different kinds each.  Unfortunately, none stood out as spectacular, and we had to send one back for a trade-in.  As a side note: we decided to go to The VIg after in order to get a decent glass of wine.
Our first course at Beckett’s Table was the paté of the night, which was a chicken paté.  It was served on a plate with caramelized onions, parmesan cheese, crustini bread, and roasted tomatoes.  For an appetizer to start, I would give the over-all flavor and presentation a seven out of ten.
Our second course was the vegetable chopped salad. Those ingredients included pumpkin seed brittle, cucumber, fennel, carrot, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, celery, red bells, corn and brussel sprouts in a champagne basil vinaigrette.  Sounds awesome, right?  What's interesting now as I write this, I don't remember seeing half of those ingredients actually in the salad. Weird. That may be why we all felt it needed something more.  The brittle was a nice touch to add sweetness (cuz I am a big fan of anything sugar), but a good salad has to offset that sweetness with something tangy, like feta cheese.  That would have been an excellent addition.  But it didn't, so my rating for that salad was a four out of ten.  Disappointing.
The two main courses we decided on were the wood fired mussels and the cast iron petite chicken.  Again, all in all, slightly disappointing.  The mussels were slightly undercooked and tough to get out of their shell.  They were served in a shallot white wine fennel broth with garlic toasts.  I must say, the broth was excellent.  The best part of the meal was dipping the toast into the broth.  But it would have been an awesome dish had the mussels not been undercooked.  As for the chicken dish, I could have made a more flavorful chicken at home. It needed more salt or seasoning of some kind. It was just kind of bland. One would think that the light mustard white wine sauce would have given it more flavor, but it didn't.  On the plate were also sautéed garden greens that had more flavor than most of what we had eaten so far.  Ratings on both dishes come in at a 5 out of ten.
We also had a side dish of their mac n cheese (C'mon...you always gotta try the mac n cheese).  But we were disappointed once again.  The spiral noodles had a thick, white cream sauce.  The only problem with this dish.... needed salt.  It was very bland. Or perhaps a more flavorful cheese, like adding some parmesan to spruce-up the flavor. We didn't even finish it, and that in itself is a shame. Our rating for the mac n cheese was a four out of ten.
To summarize, we wouldn't go back to the place. Chef Justin Beckett, who used to head up the kitchen at Canal in Scottsdale, had a great idea, and started with what seemed a great menu, but just didn't pull it off with enough flavors for us foodies.