http://www.saltshaker.net/20050707/puttin-on-the-ritz Casting a little flavor (and a few aspersions) on the world of food, drink, and life Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:07:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 http://www.saltshaker.net/20050707/puttin-on-the-ritz#comment-22 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Port Salute Tue, 18 Oct 2005 12:50:27 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20050707/puttin-on-the-ritz#comment-22 [...] For dinner we had planned on re-visiting the szechuan restaurant I’ve enjoyed in the past, El Dragón (see July 27th), but unfortunately it turned out to be closed. Maureen had noticed Bis-a-bis, which I’d also enjoyed, and we headed there. I wish I could say I was equally happy this time, but I’d be lying. Service was scattered, starting with an argument between two waitresses about 20 feet away from us over who had to take our table. It was slow, our waitress was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders and wasn’t above making it obvious. And the food this time was rather disappointing. A decent salad, but a plate of half a dozen soggy, flavorless fried calamari rings started dinner. For main courses a steak that was clearly overdone and a bowl of insipid argula gnocchi tossed with cherry tomato halves and canned black olives and nothing else. At least there was salt, pepper, olive oil, and parmesan on the table to toss it with. Even the lime mousse that I’d liked so much the last time seemed a bit listless, though that may just have been that the meal had been colored by the rest of the experience. We also were served the wrong wine, though didn’t notice it until midway through the evening - not that we were charged more or anything, it just wasn’t what we’d picked (my own fault for not asking to see the label before the waitress served it, but we were deep in conversation). [...] [...] For dinner we had planned on re-visiting the szechuan restaurant I’ve enjoyed in the past, El Dragón (see July 27th), but unfortunately it turned out to be closed. Maureen had noticed Bis-a-bis, which I’d also enjoyed, and we headed there. I wish I could say I was equally happy this time, but I’d be lying. Service was scattered, starting with an argument between two waitresses about 20 feet away from us over who had to take our table. It was slow, our waitress was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders and wasn’t above making it obvious. And the food this time was rather disappointing. A decent salad, but a plate of half a dozen soggy, flavorless fried calamari rings started dinner. For main courses a steak that was clearly overdone and a bowl of insipid argula gnocchi tossed with cherry tomato halves and canned black olives and nothing else. At least there was salt, pepper, olive oil, and parmesan on the table to toss it with. Even the lime mousse that I’d liked so much the last time seemed a bit listless, though that may just have been that the meal had been colored by the rest of the experience. We also were served the wrong wine, though didn’t notice it until midway through the evening - not that we were charged more or anything, it just wasn’t what we’d picked (my own fault for not asking to see the label before the waitress served it, but we were deep in conversation). [...]

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