ArtBar doesn't inspire

ArtBar is in the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge. (DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF)

An early taste of what's new on the restaurant scene

Let's play make believe for a minute. It's Friday night, and you've just arrived from out of town and checked into the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge. It was a long flight, but it's nothing a hot shower and a Swedish massage in the hotel spa can't remedy.

For dinner, you're going to pass on the Cheesecake Factory across the street at the CambridgeSide Galleria (what, you're too good for the avocado egg rolls?), so you decide to stay in.

You're in luck. The hotel has not one but two dining options: Dante, the trendy Italian hotspot with a nightlife vibe, and a new sister restaurant, ArtBar, where the mantra sounds great but really means nothing: "art + eat + retreat."

Now back to reality. It's 8 p.m., two hours after you were supposed to leave work. You're hungry, you're tired, you're meeting a friend for dinner, and you're headed to...the Royal Sonesta?

Probably not, and ArtBar isn't enough to lure you in. Dante's a different story. From our dinner when it first debuted in 2006, we liked Dante a lot, even the rowdy bar area. The ArtBar, formerly the hotel's Theater Cafe, tries to cop a bit of Dante's appeal, but so far, not so good.

Since its June opening, ArtBar had the summer to find its way and distinguish itself, yet it still feels like it's just out of the gate. It's nice enough, with an array of modern art sprucing up the otherwise muted dining room ("clean lines," you can imagine the designer saying). It has a charming little patio that looks out over the Charles, a big hit over the summer.

On a visit earlier this week, it's too chilly to enjoy the patio, and ArtBar is pretty quiet at 8 p.m., but so is Dante. Our waitress tells us the big difference between the two is that Dante is mostly Italian and ArtBar isn't. Instead, its menu leans toward New American bistro fare (gazpacho, Bibb salad, seafood terrine for starters; risotto and sirloin for main attractions), and it casts a wide net for the casual diner.

To start, we go for the stand-bys: a tuna nicoise salad, a spring roll of duck confit in a thin jicama wrapper, and a lobster fritter with a rich lemon-tarragon aioli. Before we're even finished, the entrees roll out.

A cassoulet overflows with chicken, mushrooms, and other hearty ingredients that remind us of the autumn weather already upon us. A roasted striped bass is fantastic, that nice balance between crispy and succulent, and its bed of corn and leek ragout is another nod to fall (even though it's on the summer menu).

A hanger steak ordered medium rare comes out so crimson red it concerns even the waitress. She quickly shuttles it back to the kitchen, and it returns much better, if still not as we had wanted it.

Then it hits us: We haven't really felt much at all over the course of dinner. We've prattled on with the usual work gossip and weekend plans, but we realize ArtBar evokes something far worse than intense criticism: apathy.

It all feels rather mediocre, even the service. Our waitress, one of the sweetest and nicest we've had in a long time, is still a little too green for a refined place like ArtBar. When she takes our drink orders, she returns a few minutes later, obviously confused. "You wanted a glass of prospecco. Which one is that?," she says with a gesture at the wine menu. We politely spell it out: "Pro-secco."

Not one of us has had a strong reaction to anything tonight, not the menu, the experience, the ambience. Everything is just fine - the food tastes fine, the waitstaff is accommodating, and we don't dip into our savings when the check arrives.

Feeling just fine is just a problem at ArtBar. You want to feel something, anything, when you're dining out, especially if you're not just an overnight guest at a hotel.

ArtBar at the Royal Sonesta Hotel, 40 Edwin H. Land Blvd., Cambridge, 617-806-4122, www.artbarcambridge.com. Appetizers: $7-$18. Entrees: $22-$32. Wines by the glass: $7-$15.

James Reed can be reached at jreed@globe.com.