Lots of people have different views about Valentine's Day...is it good? Is it for Hallmark? Do you love it because you're in love? Do you hate it because you're alone? Is it a way to mark up prices on things?
Maybe.
I like the idea of it...why the heck not have a stupid excuse to be romantic and lovey dovey with whoever (whommmever?) you love? Why not tell your best friend you love them? Or your family?
But prices. Jacked up. Just because they can.
We went to a restaurant this past saturday...Valentine's Day, if you haven't gotten that drift yet...and it was at
Chez Pascal in Providence, RI.
I don't think it was a good idea to go to a restaurant for the first time on Valentine's Day.
Meal: Good. (good isn't GREAT. or AWESOME. or FANTASTIC!) We'll come back to that.
Environment: Great. We liked the art on the walls, the nice "flowery lighting" as Jeremy puts it, and the nice little (fake) rose petals they put on each table.
BUT: Since it was packed, our table in the corner was very VERY close to the table next to it. So close that the waiter actually did move their table away from ours, so he could stand in between the two of them to open and pour our bottle of wine without his ass ending up in the couple's plate. I hate close tables. If I wanted to have dinner with another couple, we would have double dated. And it would have been with another couple we KNEW!!!
Service: Great. Our reservations were at 9:15...servers are tired and very busy, since at 9:15 the whole restaurant was still packed (yes, that IS a good sign!). Our server was really great, he helped us pick the (more expensive) wine, he kept topping it off, he brought our food in a timely manner, etc. But he was weird when we asked for more bread. "Can we get some more bread please?" .....Nothing. He pursed his lips and nodded. Just weird. Oh well.
Ok so back to the food. I can only speak for myself....I had shrimp for the first course, and arctic char which is "literally indistinguishable from salmon". Both were pretty good. I was in the mood for a filet, so oh well.
Jeremy seemed to really like his scallops (that were his first course). I had a small bite of them, and I thought they tasted very good as well. He also seemed to enjoy his deer. Yep, Jeremy ate deer. I did not try a bite of that. Be happy that I even tried "literally indistinguishable from salmon", ok!?!? Jeremy said deer tastes like duck. I find that odd.
Deer: four legged hoofed animal. (It was red deer, if that helps you bambi lovers...Jeremy tried this on me, I say deer is deer and he ate bambi's mom.)
Duck: GOES QUACK. Has a duckbill, webbed feet, feathers, and can FLY. How could they taste the same!?!??!?!
Long story short, I don't think it was worth $68/person, but we WILL be trying the restaurant again, on a non-holiday :)
-E
