Reserved well in advance for special family birthday dinner. An attractive setting overall though our seating did not offer full advantage of it (even though we had asked at time of reservation for best seating/view, etc as it was a special occasion and a party...of nine, so manageable but still guaranteeing a fairly large cheque!). Most disappointing was both the food and the service - both were mediocre, we really had expected much more from this place. Our waiter was minimally friendly and professional but didn’t make any particular effort to make it a special time. The food also, perfectly acceptable but certainly unremarkable. Also, the live music was a guy with a guitar doing some pretty lame ‘oldies’ music, a bit too loud to be purely background, not good enough to be worth paying too much attention to - and who refused to do Happy Birthday even after my son-in-law slipped him a $20 - I mean really, a brief, tasteful version of the song could have been offered (and should be something he was prepared for) - it was my father’s 95th birthday. Overall, unfortunately I can’t really recommend the Veranda — a pretty place for a romantic dinner, but based on our experience, don’t go there for an above average dining experience.More