Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Cheese & Wine

So we have a new wine bar opening up in Gig Harbor that I am stoked about. One of my girlfriends visited their other location and she absolutely raved about it. We planned on going there for some wine and eats last night. The restaurant has been publicized all over here and I thought for sure it was open already, but it turns out they hadn't officially opened to the public yet, only VIP events. We met the manager though, very friendly. Hopefully I'll have a restaurant review for you soon.
Doesn't it look cute
After the disappointment, I took her to another restaurant that touted an impressive wine list and we had the cheese platter. This was only the third time I have been to this restaurant. The first time I had duck, the hubbs had lamb, and it was AWESOME! The best restaurant meal I have ever had - ever. The second time (months later) they must have changed executive chefs and the menu had a ton of Asian flair. Not what we expected. The restaurant's tag line says "flavors of the northwest"...asian?..huh? I had the duck again and it was the nastiest gamiest duck I have ever tasted. The hubbs had scallops and he was super disappointed in those as well. So I gave them another chance last night and what a bummer. The cheese plate was nothing to write home about and they did not make us feel very welcome. We sat in the bar and half way in, the maitre`de actually asked us if we could move down so another couple could sit down. Sure no problem, only there was enough seating for them they just wanted an empty chair in between us. Was that rude of them to ask us to unnecessarily move in the middle of our meal? Then while we were waiting for our check the maitre`de came back and told the bartender - RIGHT IN FRONT OF US - "as soon as these two ladies leave I have two more in the lobby waiting to be seated." Wtf? How rude. You could have been a little more discreet about it. I felt so put off. It was very weird. They are supposed to be a somewhat upscale restaurant (30 - 50$ entrees). I know I blow off a lot of steam on this blog and sound like a total bitch half the time, but really I am a very easy going person and I am especially an easy restaurant patron, but I don't think I will ever go back. The good news is that the cheese plate had an awesome cheese on it. It's called Seastack and it's local (Port Townsend, WA). Yumm-o. It was really impressive. I highly recommend it. I actually went out and found it today. I think I will try it again tomorrow with some whole grain flat bread. I ended up driking too much (I had more wine when I got home) and therefore the 6am spin class did not happen for me. Nor did the swim. Oh well, it was worth the cheese find!

8 comments:

Chloe said...

Oh man - nothing pisses me off more then having a bad experience at a restaurant!!! Ugh. So frustrating! But I'm excited to hear how the new place turns out!!

I hate working out after a night of drinking. Just the smell of the booze coming out of your pours...gross! Does not help with the hangover!

Missy said...

I can wear out a cheese plate, I tell ya! I actually like a nice cheese plate instead of dessert with some port to finish me off. Nothing like a clot and a clog to shorten my life.

Won't be hitting that place anytime soon!

Amy said...

I skipped my swim today too. It's worth it sometimes and you just have to do it to stay sane.

I HATE bad restaurant service. Hate it. And I'm easy going too. You are paying for a meal/service it should be good. Sorry you were disappointed.

The hubbs and I went out for dinner tonight (hence the skipped workout) and it was great. I took pics to post on my blog tomorrow. :)

Hopefully the new place will be great and yay for new fun cheeses!

Amy said...

PS- I'm still not over that Banana book. Seriously......

X-Country2 said...

What's the point of havign a blog if you can't bitch about stuff? :o)

Anonymous said...

ooooohhhh how i love wine bars! too bad that one wasn't open yet..you'll definitely have to review it :)

sorry about the sucky service, but nice find on the cheese...yum yum!

Alisa said...

seriously WTF! I get it that some places are crowded but if you want patronage be nice to your patrons or your business is not going to be so crowded next weekend!

I love cheese! Hmmmm...have you ever tried Humbolt Fog? It's the best thing ever!!!!

KK said...

You have good reason to complain about that experience-you are not a b*tch. Totally rude of them but glad you got good wine out of it!