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Ted's Bulletin, Americana-Themed Family Restaurant From the Owners of Matchbox, Probably Expanding Rapidly


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Zagat Buzz has a good little blurb about this place ... have been eyeing the progress with every dog-walk down 8th Street and it's looking pretty good. Breakfast all day floats my boat, anyway; we'll see how the rest goes.

We've been doing the same thing - the sign looks cool, and the interior is extremely nice. Looking forward to both this and the chesapeake room ( think that's what it will be called) in the near future.

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got a quick tour of the interior today. It is a beautiful spot, marble flooring, pressed tin ceilings, distressed brick and big booths in the back.

The front room will be a mini bakery/pastry shop. Hi-lighted by a walk up window to the outside for milk shakes.

They are hoping to open with-in the next two months. Can't wait to see the finished product

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I believe they're about to move into "friends and family"/soft opening phase, with the opening to the public being maybe mid-to-late next week.

There's a sign on the door today saying that they'll be doing an invitation-only soft opening tonight, with a public opening "soon."

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Hi there! I'm the writer from The Hill is Home. I talked to Perry yesterday and he said that they were hoping to be open "the latter part of this week" but weren't yet sure of the day. I opted to just say "this weekend" rather than sending readers over there to be disappointed that it's not open.

I hope that Tom is right and that it opens for breakfast tomorrow morning - the homemade "pop tarts" are calling my name!

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Knowing it would be busy, we wandered down to Ted's Bulletin last night for dinner after reading the menu that's now posted online. Despite arriving around 7:15 on a lovely Friday night, we only waited about 30 min to be seated. Our service was horrible (we waited a good 10 min before our server came to our table, we had our appetizers before we even got water, we waited at least 20-25 min between apps and entrees and we saw our server very infrequently) but the food was good enough and the place cute enough that we'll chalk it up to being new and will certainly go back. I'm a big fan of the decor (especially the ceilings in both rooms) and love the TVs in the bar area.

We ended up ordering way too much food, but there was so much we wanted to try. The +1 had to get a cup of the World’s Best Chicken Noodle Soup ($3.29) which was very tasty, but a bit lacking in the noodles. Plenty of chicken though. I had the Green Green Salad of Home ($6.29 ~ Romaine, egg, cucumbers, tomato, onions, croutons *tossed lovingly with Green Goddess dressing) although I substituted the Creamy Bacon Vidalia Ranch dressing. This is a very generous serving size, and also includes a bunch of kalamata olives which weren't listed on the menu...and I don't like olives. But the salad is set up like a chopped salad (lettuce is dressed then the carrots, cukes, tomato, egg and olives are arranged in little sections around the plate) so I was able to push aside what I didn't want. The croutons were excellent, but I was a little disappointed in the dressing. Not a lot of bacon or onion flavor coming through.

The +1 had the Braised Beef Short Rib Sammy ($14.29 ~ Grilled cheese bread, Vermont white cheddar, arugula, red wine gravy *served with “bowling alley” onion rings and pickle) which was enormous and excellent. He actually ended up taking half of it home because half the sandwich could be a meal to itself. The beef was so tender and all the flavors worked well together. There were only maybe 3-4 onion rings on the plate, but they were also very good (and didn't suffer from the common problem of the onion all pulling out of the breading when you bite in). I went with the Buttermilk Country Fried Steak ($15.29 ~ Crispy fried sirloin steak, black pepper white gravy *choice of two sides) which was also a huge serving. There were a few bites on the edge that ended up being just "fry" with no steak, but that doesn't mean it wasn't tasty :D . They were out of the brussel sprouts with bleu cheese and bacon :lol: that I really wanted, but my sides ended up being good. The Mac and Four Cheese w/ Andouille seemed to be lacking the advertised sausage, but I certainly didn't miss it. It was creamy and delicious and the toasted bread crumbs on top offered some good texture. The Braised green beans w/ bacon were good, if not out of this world.

For dessert we had to split a shake, and went with the Peanut Butter, Chocolate and Banana ($5.99). A shake for close to $6 is a bit steep, but in addition to the glass they also bring out a half full metal mixer with the leftovers, so one is plenty to split between two people. The banana flavor was a bit overwhelmed by the PB and chocolate, but it was still a great end to a very good meal.

The blueberry pie, carrot and chocolate cake and cookies also looked good up in the display case and the homemade poptarts were too cute! The burger and fries we saw come out also looked worth trying, as did some french toast on a neighbor's plate. Lots of stuff to head back and try!

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Stopped in for lunch today and sat at the counter. It is obvious the place is new. The service has that hyper-actively attentiveness of a just opened restaurant - well meaning if not always well executed. I could hardly get in the door from the exhuberant host trying to shove a menu in my hands and welcome me. I must have had someone cheerfully ask me if everything was ok every 45-60 seconds for the first 10 minutes I was in there. I also got to watch the staff bicker with each other (although fairly good-naturedly) about which duties belonged to the "bartender" (who must be responsible alcoholic drinks and food orders at the bar) and which to the "barristas" (who I take it are responisble for the coffee and milkshake orders.) Apparently neither were responsible for keeping my water glass filled - after the first 10 minutes the initial burst of hospitality must have faded as I seemed to have started blending into the countertop.

I got the Country Fried Steak with white pepper gravy and mashed potatoes and braised green beans with bacon as sides. The green beans were fairly unremarkable - perhaps slightly overcooked but nothing to really recommend them pro or con other than that. The potatoes were also serviceable but nothing to plan a trip around.

The steak itself was probably 4 oz of meat (and I am being generous in that estimation) pounded to about 1/8" thickness then surrounded by about 1 1/2" of breading. The breading wasn't bad, don't get me wrong, but there was just SO DANGED MUCH OF IT. At first I was just cutting off slices that ended up being absolutely nothing but breading until I realized I needed to trim off quite a bit of it if I had any hope of getting some meat flavor out of the dish. It was topped with a rather meager dribble of white pepper gravy (especially when compared with the ginormous portion of fried starch that is was on top of.) I asked for some more gravy on the side and was given about 1/2 oz in a small salad dressing server. Alas. I am sure there are more promising things on the menu, but at least for now I cannot recommend the place for this dish at least.

I got the obligatory shake to go on my way out. It was tasty and thick, but Good Stuff Eatery does a better job a few blocks away (even if I am not a big fan of pretty much anything else there)

All in all, I think I will give this place another 2-3 months to settle before I head back again.

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A trip to Ted's this afternoon for lunch has me eager to return, despite not being wholly satisfied with what I ordered. The Braised Beef Short Rib Sammy grilled cheese bread, Vermont white cheddar, arugula, red wine gravy ($14.29), served with onion rings and pickles, was good, but could have been better, especially for the price charged. The short rib was extremely tender, and sandwiched between two slices of beautifully crisped up bread, grilled cheese style. However, despite all the flavor brought by the red wine gravy, it needed a touch of salt, and besides the arugula, there wasn't quite enough filling: the cheese wasn't prominent enough to hold the sandwich together, or to offer significant flavor, and the (slight) lack of meat meant that the edges of the sandwich were simply semi-dry bread. As for the sides, the 3 slices of pickle were fine, and the 3 small onion rings -- breaded, not battered -- were delicious, but a really skimpy portion, and also in need of salt.

Despite these small misgivings, overall I was happy with the experience. Service was good, and the place has successfully achieved a neighborhood vibe. And I'm looking forward to trying more of the menu (a burger a few seats over looked pretty awesome, as did all of the baked goods in the case by the register). Some of the prices seem a little unjustified, and most could probably be knocked down a buck or two, but that isn't enough to stop me from giving them another shot or two very soon.

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I must have missed Gennaro by a couple hours, because I was also in at Ted's today for a late lunch, and I have largely the same sentiment - I really want to go back, even though I wasn't blown away by everything I ate.

First off, let me say that I absolutely love the space and the whole retro-type theme they're going for. It could've been really easy to go way over the top and make the whole thing come off as kitschy, but they stopped just short of that point.

I opted for the Rachel (turkey, cole slaw, thousand island dressing on grilled marbled rye) ($12.29), and I'm not sure if it's the difference in protein, but I didn't have any issue with a lack of meat or any other fillings. The turkey was flavorful, and their thousand island dressing was about as good a thousand island dressing can be. The bartender remarked that he ordered that all the time, and I can see why - it's a damn good take on a turkey reuben. I got a lot more fries than it sounds like Gennaro got onion rings, but they weren't anything special, and I ended up leaving 1/3 to 1/2 of them on my plate.

I finished with an Oreo milkshake ($5.99) on a recommendation from my bartender, and this was a mistake. At the end of the day, there's not much you can do to make an Oreo shake particularly special. On top of that, it was way too thick (yes, there is such a thing) - I ended up eating pretty much the whole thing with a spoon.

The end result, though, is that there's enough on the menu that's worth exploring for me to want to come back, especially in a space that's warm, inviting, and just damn cool.

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What time does lunch start? I'm having trouble finding that info on the website, and every time I think about it seems like a bad time to be calling them on the phone.

11, I believe, and I think at that point you can order anything, not just the specific lunch items.

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11, I believe, and I think at that point you can order anything, not just the specific lunch items.

Yes, the "Supper" menu lists that it starts at 11am, so that would include the lunch/sandwiches too. Just a heads up that they are not doing breakfast all day every day at this point. On my first trip on a Friday night they were serving it, but last night (a Wednesday) they were not. The Rachel sandwich was very tasty, and I am a big fan of the brussel sprouts with bacon and blue cheese. The ribs, however, were a little bit dry and my friend and I were not big fans of the baked beans (the sauce was too tomatoey and a bit sweet). I think I'm going to stick to the "lunch" portion of the menu in the future since the two sandwiches I've tasted have been quite good, while the two supper entrees have been more average. I do like that you can sub any of the sides for fries as well. My S'mores milkshake was a great end to a meal, but I've got to remember to split a shake in the future and not drink one myself (too big!). Our waiter, Donald, who is normally a bartender, was fabulous!

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Yes, the "Supper" menu lists that it starts at 11am, so that would include the lunch/sandwiches too.

Thanks for the responses. I guess this means the time is listed on the Supper menu at the restaurant, since I still don't see it on the online menu anywhere. The Lunch menu looks the most appealing to me of the various meals they serve.

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Over the weekend, a friend and I stopped in for breakfast. I loved the hash browns. It's been quite a while since I've found a place that serves them the way I like them. The rest of the food was good enough. My eggs were overcooked, but I think that was an ordering mistake on my part. My friend enjoyed her pancakes, eggs, and hash browns more than I did my meal cobbled together from sides.

The doorway that leads from the front counter area to the dining room and kitchen does not seem wide enough to accommodate all of the people moving between those two areas. Perhaps it was an especially busy time, but the pastry chef was running back and forth with baked goods, while waiters were bringing food to the counter from the kitchen, all while an increasingly long line of people stood at the doorway waiting in line for tables. It seems like they're going to need to do something about the traffic flow as they settle in to their routine.

Since I dislike what they've done with the website (excessive retro kitschiness), I was pleasantly surprised at the looks of the actual space. I hadn't looked in during the late stages of the rebuild. The retro element is much more subtle than on the website, and I think it works pretty well.

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I want to love Ted's Bulletin, but I'm not quite there yet. I've been four times now and overall it's been hit or miss (mostly miss in terms of service).

The Good:

Breakfast - French toast, pancakes, eggs and hash browns were all really good. I especially love shredded hashbrowns that are nice and crispy.

Dessert - The three shakes I've tried (chocolate, PB and banana, Oreo and S'mores) have all been really tasty, and even though they are a bit expensive, you do get that extra mental container along with your normal shake glass. Definitely enough to split with a friend. Last night we also got the chocolate and peanut butter cake and it was very very good. A HUGE slice (easily split between 3-4 people) and rich and tasty without being too overwhelmingly dense.

Brussel sprouts - Having twice had the brussel sprouts with blue cheese and bacon, I consider this side a winner.

Sandwiches - The braised short rib sandwich and The Rachel I liked a lot (others, to be mentioned below, not as much)

Decor - I still love pretty much everything about the decor in the dining room (except maybe how distracting the movies are that are projected on the wall)

The Bad:

Prices - I think that for the vibe that Ted's is going for, everything is overpriced. A breakfast sandwich or burrito for $11-12? Burgers/chicken for $12? Plain grilled cheese with tomato soup for almost $10? Milkshakes for nearly $6? Each of these things should be a good $2-4 cheaper than they are and would be at a much better price point. That being said, it's been crowded every time I've visited, so I guess people don't care.

Chicken sandwiches - In theory I like the fact that you can sub out burgers for chicken in the burger section, and some of the topping combinations sound pretty interesting. However, both my +1 and I ordered chicken last night only to find the breast small and severely overcooked. The toppings on both were fine, but the overall sandwich was pretty "meh."

Service - Only once out of the 4 visits have I had a truly attentive server. The other times we've had to wait a while for attention, flag down a server to ask for things and waited quite a while to get food. Nothing ridiculously egregious, but just enough that we've taken note each time.

Will I go back? Probably. But I'll definitely be pickier about what I order.

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Made a second trip to Ted's for breakfast this time. Had the Biscuits and Gravy and another swing and a miss, I'm afraid. The biscuits, while having a nice crust and buttery flavor, suffered from both an overly baking powder-ish tinge as well as from being a bit overly dense - not quite to the hockey puck stage but definitely skirting the edges. The gravy was also a bit thick - on the edge of being gloppy. The scrambled eggs were rather flat, a bit tough and pretty bland.

The lone redeeming feature was the hash browns - nice and crisp on the outside while still having a nice smooth texture inside to contrast. Perhaps some of the better hash browns I have had in years.

All in all, though, I agree with New Foodie above: I want to love this place but just can't yet.

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The lone redeeming feature was the hash browns - nice and crisp on the outside while still having a nice smooth texture inside to contrast. Perhaps some of the better hash browns I have had in years.

I loved the hash browns the first time I got them, and for this reason. They were the highlight of the meal. The preparation for them must have changed or something, but second time around was disappointing. They were both overcooked and greasy. There was little to none of the soft potato-ey element and they were crunchy...but still greasy. It turns out they pour butter over them after they are cooked. I don't know if they were finished that way last time and turned out better or if this is a new technique.

They have changed and shortened the breakfast menu a little, and the make your own breakfast sandwich (still on the online menu) I'd planned on ordering is no longer available. I ended up with more food than I wanted at a higher (only a little, but still) price point, and it was disappointing. The sausage was decent but more suited to a jambalaya than to a breakfast plate. The scrambled eggs were done omelette-style, which I don't necessarily mind, but they were an unappealing tannish color and just weren't very satisfying. Both the poached and scrambled eggs I've had here have been poorly executed.

I liked the bagel I had, and the service was good, right up until I got my change back, without the 50+ cents in coins it should have included. I wasn't in a good mood to begin with, and I just wanted to leave, so I didn't ask about the missing change. I get annoyed when it's a few cents I don't get back, so for that amount, I was risking losing my temper. Better to cut my losses.

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I stopped into Ted's Bulletin this past week on a weekday for a late lunch, and I had a great meal that contributed to an overall extremely pleasant experience. It was probably good fortune that I didn't go to the restaurant until about 2:00, because it wasn't very crowded and I was able to be seated right away. The decor is very thoughtfully done, but like others have noted, it's not too much. A lot of times having a restaurant with a really strong theme, if not executed properly, can be pretty cheesy. But I would call TB's decor and ambiance delightful, and even a touch whimsical. I also had very good service the entire time--nice, honest, attentive, efficient.

The food really hit the spot. I wasn't sure what to expect because while I really do like Matchbox, I have had one or two experiences there that were a bit off. But no worries--at TB's, I got the short rib sandwich, and I thought it was really delicious. It came with onion rings, and as an onion-ring lover (one of my favorite guilty pleasures) I was impressed. Onion rings are obviously a very greasy food, but bad ones will leave pools of grease on the plate. These didn't though--they seemed really fresh, not overly oily, and had great flavor. The sandwich and the rings made for a really satisfying and indulgent weekday lunch at a fair price.

To finish off the meal I couldn't resist one of the "adult" milkshakes, because I like any excuse to consume ice cream, chocolate, or alcohol, especially together. I know spiked milkshakes might sound silly, or like something packs of sorority girls would fawn over, but I was really surprised by how good mine tasted. It was the perfect ending to my meal. The consistency was spot-on--not too thick or thin, and there was plenty to share with my dining mate. I can't wait to try brunch here sometime. I bet it gets packed if the brunch food is as good as my lunch was.

Now I just wish they would open a second TB next to the Chinatown Matchbox, so I wouldn't have to cross town to get a fix!

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We tried Ted's last night, and I have to admit despite it being my choice of restaurant, it disappointed. Four of us went, ordered cocktails (slow in coming on a Thursday night when there were few others in the room) and set to work on the menu. We wanted apps, no apps on the menu, waitron suggested that we order sides, fine. We ordered the Bacon and Blue Cheese Brussels Sprouts and Onion Rings, and they were the highlight of the meal. The waiter was...inexperienced...nice, but not polished. Fine, we did not hold that against him. I ordered the angus meatloaf and it came with a plop (there is no other word for it) of the mingo county ketchup glaze on it. Cloying. Husband ordered the Fish & Chips, which were pretty good. Crispy and flavorful fish, although my personal preference is a tempura-style batter (childhood experience at Long John Silvers, whatever); companions ordered Lasagna (he said it was "OK") and ribs. The ribs were in the Kentucky sauce, and it was a similar plop of sauce as the meatloaf. I think that's elementary, don't blort the sauce on the food, people. We ordered wine, it was mediocre (don't know the price of the bottle, we were being hosted), and desserts. Other than the pop tart to go for our kid, the desserts were a mixed bag, my "homemade twinkie" was an extremely heavy cupcake with creme filling, the peanut butter cake was so heavy none of us could eat it; blueberry pie was snarfed down. That was great, as was the brownie sundae.

Overall, I feel disappointed; I've been waiting so long to go here, watching it develop and hoping for the best. *sniff*. I'll try it for breakfast, but I really had higher hopes.

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Dessert!

Go past everything on the menu and focus on the right side of the column for shakes and up on the wall for desserts.

A Smores shake satisfies the chocolatiest of chocolate cravings, while, if you are lactose-sensitive or intolerant, the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake* will cause the same satisfaction. A toaster pastry will bring the kid out of you.

post-2127-082098100 1283728155_thumb.jpg

To New Foodie: if you do go next time, ask for Erin A. She was our server today and was super wonderful and lovely and attentive.

*Warning: a glass of cold milk will be good with the cake, lest you need to belt out Aaron Burr for any reason. (really rich peanut butter frosting. not for the allergic to sit near.)

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Went to Ted's Bulletin for the first time last night. We had reservations and I was quickly seated even though my companion had not yet arrived and the place was full. The waiter was pleasant and professional. I had a half-rack of ribs for $17.99. They were extensive, meaty and flavorful. The sides, coleslaw and mashed potatoes and gravy, were adequate. My $10.29 cocktail (name forgotten and drinks are not listed on the website) indicated that it was made with Laphroig scotch. It tasted like it. I probably won't order it again.

The room is handsome but very noisy. Why must so many nice restaurants be so noisy? Is it because design trumps comfort? Ted's has high tin ceilings and hardwood floors. Or is it because successful busy restaurants have determined through market research that most diners enjoy hubbub? Or is it because successful busy restaurants have determined through market research that most diners will vacate their places after a certain period of time because they can no longer stand the noise?

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Finally tried a lunch at Ted's Bulletin. I liked the Rachel sandwich and fries, though I thought they were a bit too greasy. I may just be getting too sensitive to greasiness as I get older, because I'm seeming to notice it where it doesn't bother other people. Overall, I liked the food, though. The service was very good.

This time the total was rounded down and I got an extra 50 cents back, so I guess we're even on the change-rounding thing :) . (Do they ever give coins back in change at this place?)

ETA: I ate the last half of the sandwich with dinner and it was very good. I think I enjoyed that more than the half I ate in the restaurant.

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Solid, nice meal here last night. The server was friendly and enthusiastic, as was the food. My country fried steak was just right, and the sides that I got (onion rings and brussels sprouts) could just as easily have been on a plate at a family reunion, or a good country restaurant in Georgia. The Brussels sprouts were perfectly cooked, and not over-accompanied by the blue cheese and bacon. My wife did the BLT burger, and it was a bit over the top in size but very tasty.

The pop tarts alone are an interesting dessert choice. The brown sugar/cinnamon was great (according to my wife), but my peanut butter and bacon was a bit dry (but then again, aren't all pop tarts?). next time I'll order a glass of milk to go with it and it should be great.

We liked it, and look forward to going back.

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My birthday started out with the discovery that my cat had pooped in the bathtub. Deciding that the day could only go uphill from there, I decided to follow through with my thought of treating myself to breakfast. I hadn't been to Ted's for several years, and unfortunately, today's visit was a reminder of why I have mostly avoided this place. It's not the food, really; most of what I've had here has been at least not bad for what it is and fairly priced for substantial portions. Today's breakfast sandwich had the sort of greasiness that one might appreciate after a night of heavy drinking; the hash browns erred too far on the side of crisp; coffee was mediocre. One might be forgiving, even appreciative of all this in a place that was less overdetermined to evoke nostalgia.

But the atmosphere of this place is almost aggressively unpleasant. The calculated quaintness is immediately mitigated by overly bright lighting. The lousy acoustics are grating and the seating uncomfortable. The silent movies projected on the wall are pointless and add nothing. Worse, the little details exacerbate all the other irritations: tables left with sticky spots from poorly managed syrup dispensers; leaky coffee carafes; unwieldy paper menus that have seen better days (also sticky/greasy). Service is spotty--servers and hostesses disappear for adsurdly long periods. (Of course, I may have been unduly influenced by the noisy group of 15 young adults who acted more like 10-year-olds.)

Let's put it this way: I thought the cat turd in the shower would be the day's most repellent experience, until I tried to enjoy a meal at Ted's Bulletin.

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Let's put it this way: I thought the cat turd in the shower would be the day's most repellent experience, until I tried to enjoy a meal at Ted's Bulletin.

Happy birthday?

I've given up on Ted's. I find the food too greasy and agree completely about the kitschy atmosphere. It's so popular that I kept trying, thinking I was missing something, but the place is just not for me.

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I should note that Chris, the head of the Matchbox food group, wrote me a very gracious note of apology for my negative experience at Ted's yesterday, which I appreciate. It doesn't make me eager to return to a space I find unpleasant (despite his offer to "roll out the red carpet"), but it does give me hope that their new location on 14th Street will show some learned lessons from the Barracks Row disappointments. At any rate, it was a classy move on his part, especially given my harsh words, and he deserves credit for taking the time to write.

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not a regular poster any more but felt a need to post this and hopefully people realize based on my history on the board I am not one to wantonly slam a restaurant

had the worst service experience in years at the Cap Hill location about 2 weeks ago - arrived for  late lunch with a relatively large group of 10 people and were seated in a busy but not slammed and rapidly emptying dining room at roughly 1.20 - we ordered standard lunch fare - burgers salads etc and a few folks ordered milkshakes

The we waited, and waited, and waited........servers assiduously avoided our table and eye contact - water arrived around 1.45 and we waited and waited and waited - at 2.15 I flagged down someone who appeared to be a manager and said we'd been waiting for almost an hour - as I complained food and milkshakes started to arrive - she seemed mildly concerned in a perfunctory way but there was no acknowledgement by the waiter of any service issues

we finished our food, got the bill (no adjustments for lousy service) and left without anyone else checking in or inquiring as to service

never again.....

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not a regular poster any more but felt a need to post this and hopefully people realize based on my history on the board I am not one to wantonly slam a restaurant

You have a long history of being more than fair.

I had dinner at Ted's Bulletin a few days ago, and dropped it several notches in the Dining Guide. For me, the most pathetic thing was that there weren't any other restaurants I could obviously drop it below.

It is amazing to me that this is what America wants for dinner - then again, look at Founding Farmers, Chef Geoff's, Sweetwater Tavern, etc.

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Have never been to Ted's. Not sure I ever will. Sounds like one could spend 50% less for no worse at a place like...oh, I don't know...One Fish, Two Fish next to Marcel's?

Maybe we need to have a "Pile On" topic as a sort of parking lot for spots that engender such consistent reactions like this? :-)

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We went to the Gaithersburg location for dinner last night.  The build out is great, with a good vibe.  The dinning experience was not the best.  My wife ordered a greek salad, daughter grilled cheese and fries, me, the meatloaf.  Everything was fine except for the meatloaf.  It came out and was ice cold in the center.  I asked to have it re-made, and the request was gladly taken, but we waited another 15 minutes for a new plate to come out.  The server finally came by and was surprised that the new plate had not come out. It was decent meatloaf, but not memorable.  The sauce did have a nice horseradish kick to it.  When leaving, I mentioned the bad service to the manager, who was surprised, not in a genuine way.  He dissapeared for a few minutes, came back with the server and made him apologize.  I really felt bad for the waiter as it was not necessary to embarrass him like that.  I would give this place a second chance, because anyone can have an off night, but the menu just wasn't that impressive to me.

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Tried the new Gaithersburg location two weeks ago.  We went in for a lat lunch at around 2.  I certainly didn't think to make reservations, but there was a 20 minute wait for a table.  We found a spot near the bar which was up for grabs.

The menu is fairly corporate, but I like the idea of being able to order breakfast all day.  My breakfast fare was fine...not unlike what you'd get from an IHOP except for the home-made pop tart.  Flavor of the day was salted caramel and it was great.  Hubby had the meatloaf, which as stated above, was okay, but nothing special.

We did have a small hiccup in service in that the bartender who was serving us originally put our order in at a station that appeared to have a problem and realized about 15 minutes later that our orders never made it to the kitchen.  He was very apologetic, as was the manager who stopped by to check on us. Our food came out shortly after, and our bill was substantially adjusted.

We liked the space a lot, and in the vast wasteland of MoCo, even a mediocre corporate restaurant is welcome.  We will probably visit again, but probably limit our order to standard sandwich or breakfast fare.

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Someone (Darkstar?) asked me to elaborate on my Ted's post in Where Did I Dine?

Since it the Gaithersburg branch opened mid-January, I've been twice, Mr. BLB has been twice and BL-2nd grader has been 3 times.

I have ZERO need to go back.  I had the club sandwich the first time and the chicken fried steak the second.  Both times I felt terrible after and the food was generally flavorless.  I also do not get their "pop-tarts" which just seem sad and doughy.

Mr. BLB had a burger on his first visit and the cedar planked salmon on his second.  He was not impressed with his particular burger on his first visit but thought the salmon was quite good on his second.  The allure of the pop-tarts escapes him as well.

And that leads us to BL-2nd grader, who really and truly loves everything about the place.  (Though he likes the food at Coastal Flats better.)  He likes the chairs in the bar area, he likes the pop-tarts, he loves the tv in the middle of the room running cartoons.  (I did speak to a manager on our first visit--A Streetcar Named Desire was playing at lunch time on a snow day.  It didn't seem like a good choice!)  The first two visits he had a club sandwich and then he had the TV Dinner special and truly loved most of it.

I don't know if there was a difference between lunch (my two visits) and dinner (the last, which I missed) but dinner seemed to be a bigger hit.

If it were up to me, and I didn't want to go to Coastal Flats again, I'd be at least trying Paladar and Pour House.

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Someone (Darkstar?) asked me to elaborate on my Ted's post in Where Did I Dine?

...

I have ZERO need to go back.  ...

And that leads us to BL-2nd grader, who really and truly loves everything about the place.  ...

It was me and thank you!  Interesting.  Ted's works well for elementary school children but less so for adults and families. I guess unsurprising given all the posts above.  I never go here and this thread has probably saved me some $ and frustration.

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I've been to the Gaithersburg location.  I really enjoyed the salmon!  Other food is hit or miss but I'm willing to give it more tries.

Someone (Darkstar?) asked me to elaborate on my Ted's post in Where Did I Dine?

Since it the Gaithersburg branch opened mid-January, I've been twice, Mr. BLB has been twice and BL-2nd grader has been 3 times.

I have ZERO need to go back.  I had the club sandwich the first time and the chicken fried steak the second.  Both times I felt terrible after and the food was generally flavorless.  I also do not get their "pop-tarts" which just seem sad and doughy.

Mr. BLB had a burger on his first visit and the cedar planked salmon on his second.  He was not impressed with his particular burger on his first visit but thought the salmon was quite good on his second.  The allure of the pop-tarts escapes him as well.

And that leads us to BL-2nd grader, who really and truly loves everything about the place.  (Though he likes the food at Coastal Flats better.)  He likes the chairs in the bar area, he likes the pop-tarts, he loves the tv in the middle of the room running cartoons.  (I did speak to a manager on our first visit--A Streetcar Named Desire was playing at lunch time on a snow day.  It didn't seem like a good choice!)  The first two visits he had a club sandwich and then he had the TV Dinner special and truly loved most of it.

I don't know if there was a difference between lunch (my two visits) and dinner (the last, which I missed) but dinner seemed to be a bigger hit.

If it were up to me, and I didn't want to go to Coastal Flats again, I'd be at least trying Paladar and Pour House.

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