Just How Overdue Is This Restaurant Review?

• March 14, 2012

Hey everyone! I am ridiculously swamped with life right now and have no time for an up-to-date post, which sucks because I have SO much on my mind and also many a fun experience to share, but for now I hope you’re satisfied with a better-late-than-never review of a restaurant I visited several months ago.

Also, I’m psyched to announce that CT’s largest newspaper (and the nation’s oldest), the Hartford Courant, is hosting blog awards this year called the Websters! The nomination form is here, and you don’t have to fill in every field, so even if you’re not from CT but enjoy my blog, you may want to check it out 😉

The answer to this post title’s question is ridiculous. This restaurant review from my Florida vacation in December 2011 is SO overdue, the restaurant is ABOUT TO CLOSE. #fail

EDIT: THE RESTAURANT IS NOT ABOUT TO CLOSE! My grandma is apparently a source of false information! But I’m keeping the title of this post because it doesn’t work otherwise…

I had always wanted to visit McCormick  & Schmick’s  for a full meal. They have a fantastic happy hour menu that I had the pleasure of sampling during my foodie road trip to DC with Jeff last May.

I was pretty excited to be able to order a beverage and an item off the full menu. After checking it out online, I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to choose!

The menu at every McCormick & Schmick’s varies according to what food is the freshest available locally. I like how the menu listed out specifically what items were from the Florida area and where they came from.

I was impressed by the variety of cocktails offered and selected a drink called the Skinny Bootlegger. In case you can’t read the print above, it consisted of Prairie organic vodka, lemon/lime juices, agave, and mint. Definitely sounded promising, but unfortunately this drink spelled a bit of trouble in terms of service.

It certainly looked lovely, but the drink was way too juice-y. I felt as if (my parents both agreed) I was drinking straight lime and lemon juice with a little mint thrown in! I like my drinks strong and usually the “Skinny” options on restaurant menus use less juice/added sweeteners and are therefore enjoyable to me. This drink wasn’t though, so we asked our waiter for another shot of vodka that I could add to the drink. No, I am not an alcoholic, I just know how I like my drinks to taste!

At this point it became apparent to use that we did not have the speediest waiter in the world. He didn’t return for over 10 minutes, and other people in the table had yet to receive their drinks in the first place. Finally I sent the drink back altogether and just asked for a glass so that I could have some of the red wine my parents had ordered for themselves.

They had chosen 14 Hands Cabernet from Washington. I prefer other reds to Cabernets, but did enjoy this wine. Looks nice in the glass, right? 😉

It paired especially well with the sourdough bread, which tasted just like J. Gilbert’s bread to me.

For my meal, I ordered the Jamaican Grilled Mahi-Mahi, with some modifications. I asked for the vanilla rum sauce on the side, and for veggies instead of the sweet potato mash (I love sweet potato fries and sweet potatoes as co-ingredients, but do not like them enough to eat them mashed/baked/roasted by themselves). Obviously I stuck with the black beans – I’m obsessed, after all.

My food was delicious! The fish was cooked perfectly and the char-grilled beefsteak tomato was a welcome and pleasant surprise to find on my plate. It took a very long time for our food to come out (and for bread to be replenished in the mean time – our waiter really was quite sluggish, though polite) but this was worth the wait.

My dad started with the Maine Lobster Bisque with Sherry Butter, and was so excited and impressed by the presentation that he called me over to snap the above photo. The lump lobster meat in the center of the soup was certainly impressive!

My brother’s (awkward) meal of choice was the Petite Filet Mignon with veggies (for my mom and I) and two fried mashed potato balls. Yes, fried mashed potatoes – I had a bite of one, and it was AMAZING!!!

Despite the bad drink and waiter, I really liked my food! And they did take my drink off our bill – after my mom sternly prompted them to do so, of course.

Have you ever sent a drink back because you didn’t like it?

Have you ever been torn between liking and disliking a restaurant because some parts of the experience were good and some were bad?