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| - Man, what can I say about this place except that it was just terrible? I went here for lunch based on a recommendation from a foodie friend who said it was good. I should have reconsidered upon seeing the twee website, but I persevered because the guy has good taste. So I get there to meet my dining companion at lunchtime on a weekday. It's a small place, with a pastry counter and an open dining room. It started off on a somewhat negative foot when I sat there for awhile waiting for the waitress to take my drink order, and nobody came. The bad part was that 1) they weren't busy and 2) because of the open floorplan, I could see both waitresses just standing behind the counter chatting it up rather than tending to me. But the menu looked good- salads and sandwiches with a french brasserie kind of flair, and I like that, so I overlooked it and ordered the vegan salad and a diet coke and put my game face on. My companion was excited to see Croque Madame on the menu and ordered that.
For some reason, something in my gut told me that this was just the type of place to have the diet cokes in bottles with no refills, but when I saw her fill my glass at the fountain, I was reassured. The food came and looked pretty good. The madame came with a small salad, and my vegan was lots of lettuce, some corn, a couple of avocado slices, and a pile of sprouts with some marinated tofu on top. Sounds good. One thing I didn't like was that it was served in an aluminum mixing bowl- I like to dine on actual plates, but again- twee. The salad was unimpressive, to say the least. The corn was canned, the dressing was bland, and the tofu was not good at all. People think that tofu is always the same, but it's not. Tofu can be very delicious, ala Johnny Chu, or disastrous, ala Pei Wei, and there is a lot of variation in between. This was thinly sliced, marinated in something tasteless, and hard and a bit squeaky like at Pei Wei. My companion was not pleased at all with her madame. She immediately complained that there was no bechamel sauce on it. I thought she was just being her particular self, but then I did look at the menu again and there it was, called out in all caps. But upon inspection, the sandwich consisted of a slice of toasted bread, a piece of cheese, a piece of ham, and an egg.
As I made the best of my salad and she ate her 3 bites of the madame, I finished my soda. But nobody came back. Again, they were busy chatting it up behind the counter. Finally a waitress came out to collect someone else's plates and bypassed us. I yelled out to her to tell her I needed more diet coke, and my companion asked for a refresher on her coffee. The waitress made a point of looking into her half full glass and saying "ANOTHER diet coke?" and I just knew it. I looked at the menu again and saw in small letters at the bottom "$1.25 refills for coffee and $2 for sodas." Really?? Really??? When you're charging me $11 for this BS salad? I pointed this out to my companion and she was irate...and also said she wasn't feeling so well.
After waiting 10 minutes for anyone to come back, I walked up to the counter and got my check. After waiting another 10 minutes, I took my check and money up to the counter. I have to admit something. I tipped 14%. I have never in my life tipped that little. It literally hurts me to tip less than 20%- that's my starting point. Indifferent and often even bad service gets a 20%. But f it- I'm never going back, and neither is my companion. Scratch will be gone soon.
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