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| - Beautiful patio partly in the shade on a hot day. Fantastic selection of beer and cider. The big problem was with the mussels.
I ordered a large portion of Thai green curry-style mussels. At first they seemed okay. The broth was tasty, although the coconut milk had split a little bit. The mussels were nice and plump. After the first few, I counted no fewer than 10 of the mussels that were either completely shut or impossible to open, which suggests they were already dead before they were cooked, i.e. a health hazard. I called over our server to send them back. She apologized profusely, let me take the fries and baguette off the platter, and offered me either replacement mussels or another dish. I ordered a replacement set, or so I thought.
After about 15 minutes, she came back and apologized again and said the mussels were taken off the bill. She was empty-handed. I thought maybe I had been unclear that I wanted a replacement dish, but my friend echoed my confusion when he asked me, "Where's the new order of mussels you asked for?"
By that time, I was already full on the excellent fries and cider; so I just let it go. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. My friend's mussels à la provençale were excellent; he had no problems whatsoever.
At the end of the meal, the bad mussels were indeed taken off the bill. Our server was very apologetic, but even perfect service - much less the extra mis-step of not replacing the order - could not excuse the complete miss of serving 10+ unsafe mussels. To me, this is the same as getting a plate of raw, bloody chicken. You can't let such a dish leave the kitchen. I won't be coming back.
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