(from an e-mail to Dave I haven't sent yet)
I owed my neighbor Mark a meal so I invited him out for lunch today. Combat
Dining might be an appropriate description. We went to The Lookout where you
and I went and they were closed..but we had a soda and a beer and enjoyed the
view. When Mark and I got there it was semi-full of diners and we were ushered to
a table with a white table cloth over-looking the pool and the Pacific. We each had
two forks and two knives...so we were well armed for whatever was to come.
The first thing to come, and quickly, was a couple of menus; always an
encouraging start to a meal. His menu had more pages and his lunch menu had
stuff mine didn't. I was jealous and wanted something on his menu that was
missing on mine..I wondered if it was a seating arrangement discrimination and
perhaps that dish only came if your seat faced North. I soon discovered it was also
on my menu, but in a different spot..haha..what an idiot...but there were some
menu item differences I won't labor.
He went for lasagna, and I the mu-shoo pork. The waiter returned with the sad
news that mu-shoo pork would not be available today. I jumped on the lasagna.as
a backup choice I had sorta wanted anyhow. The waiter returned saying there was
no lasagna today either. We both chorused, "What IS available today?" We could
better just choose from that. He mentioned hamburger quickly...but we wanted to
hear more. It seems just the two items we really wanted were lacking and the rest
was up for grabs.
The rest seemed quite limited by then so Mark went for the club sandwich, which
worried me having ordered a few in Costa Rica and never gotten one very eatable.
I went for the cheeseburger, having had some recent surprisingly good ones
and hoped for another.
To digress a bit; after arriving, I remembered I had a couple of "free appetizer"
coupons in my wallet that the owner had handed me one full moon party a few
months ago..it seemed a good time to redeem them. I pulled em out and showed
them to the waiter who snatched em up like they held value (nod, nod, "Yes, this
means you are preferred customers and will be showered with a veritable
cornucopia of culinary delights!) and went off for the menus. Mark, as we perused
the somewhat confusing menus, speaking the better Spanish, asked what on the
menu, exactly, the coupons were good for. This seemed to stymie the waiter who
now had forgotten entirely about the coupons. When reminded, he hustled off to
other parts and returned saying, basically, nothing. Nothing on the menu was
applicable to the coupons..not even in the "for starters" section, which
appeared to be the only applicable section we could see. This fueled Mark's
already aggressive style of diner/waiter communication and his love for a good
fight when sensing the power of right on his side. I nodded in curiosity..a little like
Steve Martin in The Jerk, "Now where's them melted cheese appetizers I
ordered?" The waiter knew he was in trouble, but never lost his cool. He did
retreat however. He returned with news that the coupons were worth two special
little cheap appetizers made specially for us. I think this satisfied all parties and we
moved on then to the lunch-ordering fiasco.
We ordered a couple of frozen margaritas which arrived nicely frozen, served by a
pleasant and very easy to look at woman of Anglo descent, but consisting of a
flavor dominated by cheap tequila Mark ordered some limes which helped make
em palatable.
The appetizers were a couple of pieces of bread with some melted cheese (haha)
and some Italian flavors and herbs, slathered with olive oil. Pretty tasty, I thought;
Mark didn't complain, which was refreshing..
The meals arrived and although my hamburger had no cheese, it was quite good
and the fries weren't too bad either. Mark's club sandwich was made of tuna fish,
red cabbage, toast and nary a speck of ham, turkey, bacon or other known club
sandwich ingredients, much to his dismay. It was suppose to come with the
cole-slaw he chose from the list of condiments, but besides a couple of slices of
avocado, the sandwich was alone on the plate.
We shared views on the state of eating out in Costa Rica, none being very
positive, and although my meal was better than his, I felt overall disappointment in
the experience after getting worked up over mu-shoo pork, then lasagna, to settle
on a hamburger which was interesting in texture, design and size, but ultimately
cheese-less and rather droll in flavor. Mark was more assertively disappointed,
and sadly, the cook then came out and asked how our meals were.
Less than a millisecond passed before he got an ear full from Mark about the
entire dining experience including the complete lack of coleslaw on his plate. The
cook said it was in the sandwich, as if any fool would have figured that out. Heated
words were exchanged and re-exchanged. Tempers flared. Much bullshit
throwing hit and missed. I sat by, awaiting the right moment to say something of
value..it never came. I think too much had already been said. We paid up and left
without further scene.
One interesting fact the cook brought up was that they were actually closed
today..so we were lucky to have gotten served at all.
I just wish they would have told us that as we walked in. It may have saved me
writing another bad review so soon, and we could have gone somewhere else for a
screwed up meal ..at a place at least open for business.
And that's my restaurant review for today!
tom
I owed my neighbor Mark a meal so I invited him out for lunch today. Combat
Dining might be an appropriate description. We went to The Lookout where you
and I went and they were closed..but we had a soda and a beer and enjoyed the
view. When Mark and I got there it was semi-full of diners and we were ushered to
a table with a white table cloth over-looking the pool and the Pacific. We each had
two forks and two knives...so we were well armed for whatever was to come.
The first thing to come, and quickly, was a couple of menus; always an
encouraging start to a meal. His menu had more pages and his lunch menu had
stuff mine didn't. I was jealous and wanted something on his menu that was
missing on mine..I wondered if it was a seating arrangement discrimination and
perhaps that dish only came if your seat faced North. I soon discovered it was also
on my menu, but in a different spot..haha..what an idiot...but there were some
menu item differences I won't labor.
He went for lasagna, and I the mu-shoo pork. The waiter returned with the sad
news that mu-shoo pork would not be available today. I jumped on the lasagna.as
a backup choice I had sorta wanted anyhow. The waiter returned saying there was
no lasagna today either. We both chorused, "What IS available today?" We could
better just choose from that. He mentioned hamburger quickly...but we wanted to
hear more. It seems just the two items we really wanted were lacking and the rest
was up for grabs.
The rest seemed quite limited by then so Mark went for the club sandwich, which
worried me having ordered a few in Costa Rica and never gotten one very eatable.
I went for the cheeseburger, having had some recent surprisingly good ones
and hoped for another.
To digress a bit; after arriving, I remembered I had a couple of "free appetizer"
coupons in my wallet that the owner had handed me one full moon party a few
months ago..it seemed a good time to redeem them. I pulled em out and showed
them to the waiter who snatched em up like they held value (nod, nod, "Yes, this
means you are preferred customers and will be showered with a veritable
cornucopia of culinary delights!) and went off for the menus. Mark, as we perused
the somewhat confusing menus, speaking the better Spanish, asked what on the
menu, exactly, the coupons were good for. This seemed to stymie the waiter who
now had forgotten entirely about the coupons. When reminded, he hustled off to
other parts and returned saying, basically, nothing. Nothing on the menu was
applicable to the coupons..not even in the "for starters" section, which
appeared to be the only applicable section we could see. This fueled Mark's
already aggressive style of diner/waiter communication and his love for a good
fight when sensing the power of right on his side. I nodded in curiosity..a little like
Steve Martin in The Jerk, "Now where's them melted cheese appetizers I
ordered?" The waiter knew he was in trouble, but never lost his cool. He did
retreat however. He returned with news that the coupons were worth two special
little cheap appetizers made specially for us. I think this satisfied all parties and we
moved on then to the lunch-ordering fiasco.
We ordered a couple of frozen margaritas which arrived nicely frozen, served by a
pleasant and very easy to look at woman of Anglo descent, but consisting of a
flavor dominated by cheap tequila Mark ordered some limes which helped make
em palatable.
The appetizers were a couple of pieces of bread with some melted cheese (haha)
and some Italian flavors and herbs, slathered with olive oil. Pretty tasty, I thought;
Mark didn't complain, which was refreshing..
The meals arrived and although my hamburger had no cheese, it was quite good
and the fries weren't too bad either. Mark's club sandwich was made of tuna fish,
red cabbage, toast and nary a speck of ham, turkey, bacon or other known club
sandwich ingredients, much to his dismay. It was suppose to come with the
cole-slaw he chose from the list of condiments, but besides a couple of slices of
avocado, the sandwich was alone on the plate.
We shared views on the state of eating out in Costa Rica, none being very
positive, and although my meal was better than his, I felt overall disappointment in
the experience after getting worked up over mu-shoo pork, then lasagna, to settle
on a hamburger which was interesting in texture, design and size, but ultimately
cheese-less and rather droll in flavor. Mark was more assertively disappointed,
and sadly, the cook then came out and asked how our meals were.
Less than a millisecond passed before he got an ear full from Mark about the
entire dining experience including the complete lack of coleslaw on his plate. The
cook said it was in the sandwich, as if any fool would have figured that out. Heated
words were exchanged and re-exchanged. Tempers flared. Much bullshit
throwing hit and missed. I sat by, awaiting the right moment to say something of
value..it never came. I think too much had already been said. We paid up and left
without further scene.
One interesting fact the cook brought up was that they were actually closed
today..so we were lucky to have gotten served at all.
I just wish they would have told us that as we walked in. It may have saved me
writing another bad review so soon, and we could have gone somewhere else for a
screwed up meal ..at a place at least open for business.
And that's my restaurant review for today!
tom
Restaurant Review, number two
Jungle Journal 2-21-2007, by tsdaly
The
Lunch
Lunch
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photo: courtesy David L. Brown
Costa Rica Stories, Jungle Journal, 2-21-2007, by
tsdaly, Thomas Scott Daly, Restaraunt Review no,2
tsdaly, Thomas Scott Daly, Restaraunt Review no,2