jiveturk21

I tip very well, always have, always will. I have only not tipped twice in my entire life, once at a Waffle House outside Kansas City and once at the old Crabhouse in the Fair Lakes area. In fact, I think that I tip 15% when the service is awful, that is generally the low end of my tipping. Anyway, three of us went to Sonoma on Tuesday night for dinner. I have never been there before, but both of my friends have and liked it very much. Let me start by saying that the food was damn good, lots of small plates that we shared, I give them kudos across the board. I also want to add that I liked the space a lot, it was a bit more cavernous than I expected, and the tables are very wide, but we are a loud bunch, so we could hear each other fine, no real complaints about the environment. But, I will tell you something, our server was awful. And, when I say awful, I mean awful. It was not busy, so that was not to blame, and there was plenty of wait staff for the room, so we can chalk it up to a lazy server or a server who was just having a bad day. That's fine, I can deal with it, people are people, not always a reflection on the restaurant unless it happens constantly. It did get so bad, however, that I actually grabbed the hostess about halfway through our meal and told her about the issues. She said she would see what she could do and, for about 15 minutes, our server was very attentive, so she must have said something to him. Alas, that attentiveness did not last, he was aloof the rest of the evening, so much so that it dominated our conversation for most of the night. Anyway, the night wrapped up, we got our bill and were SHOCKED to see that an 18% gratuity had already been added to the bill! Are you kidding me!? I am firmly against adding a gratuity to the bill, but I can somewhat understand with parties of 8 or more at a lower level restaurant where wait staff may get screwed. But you are going to charge us 18% for a party of three on a Tuesday night at a restaurant of this caliber? Long story short, we got the gratuity taken off our bill, left him a tip in the 10% neighborhood (very generous) and called it a night. So, that's my story. I can't knock Sonoma for the bad service, it does not seem to be a pervasive problem like at Bebo, just one bad server, but I can knock them for their policy of adding an 18% gratuity for a party of three. By the way, many of my posts have been negative on this board, so I want to let everyone know that since my last post, which was a negative one for Rain, I have had delightful meals at Central, Dino, 2 Amy's and Oyamel. Don't just want to be a naysayer!

Not sure what the original plan was for this place, but I sure can tell you what the new plan is for this place...marginal food at astronomical prices so that college aged kids can think they are somewhat cultured before getting drunk and dancing to extremely loud music. I went here two Saturdays ago with three friends. We are all 30, so not their target audience for the "club" side of Rain, but definitely in their target audience for the "restaurant" side of Rain. Anyway, the "restaurant" side was 100% empty when we arrived at 8:00 PM, but we sat down anyway (I always feel very awkward in this situation). The decor is in flux, it seems like they are trying to do some nice things in there, but they ran out of money. The carpet was disgusting, but the decorations were nice enough and chairs comfortable and all that jazz. The service was lacking, but they just opened, so I understand that. And, at the very least, you could tell that our waiter was trying hard to be helpful. The food, the most important thing in my mind, sounded significantly better than it was. Here is a list of what we had and comments on each item... Roasted Beet Salad with Winter Greens, Indian River Grapefruit and Goat Cheese Crostini ($8) I would be shocked if these beets were roasted, they tasted like they were pickled and out of a can, but that wasn't the worst part of eating them. They cut them very thinly and put them on the bottom of the salad, so they were litterly stuck to the bottom of the plate (some sort of suction thing was going on). And, since they were so thin, you couldn't pick them up with your fork no matter how much you tried, so you literally had to use your fingers to separate them from the plate. So, it was a pain to eat, but the flavors were OK, if you can look past the fact that the beets were NOT roasted. Chicken and Foie Gras Mousse Stuffed Quail with Quinoa, Red Currants, Pinenuts and Marjoram Quail Jus ($9) Easily the star of the evening. It was not amazing, but very solid when you think about the portion that you got and the price. Flavors were good and the portion was great for an appetizer. Butternut Squash Risotto with Wild Mushrooms, Diced Butternut Squash, Pistachios, Pumpkin Puree and Smoked Gruyere ($18) Too many flavors, I was confused with what was going on. Do you need butternut squash and pumpkin and mushrooms and gruyere? They tried to hard with this one and it was simply awful. I mean, it was really bad. Penne Pasta Tossed with Wild Mushrooms, Tomato Confit, Spinach in a Spicy Bechamel Sauce and Aged Parmesan ($17) I felt bad for the penne, it was drowing in water. Big pet peeve of mine (is it really that hard to drain your pasta!?) and it made the dish much worse than it should have been. I think that the flavors were pretty good, but they were obviously diluted. Sauteed Jumbo Scallops with a Ragout of Tomatoes, Basil and a Kalamata Olive Timbale ($25) The scallops were good, but three scallops for $25 was not worth it. Actually, I liked this dish as well, just not a good value. Some Sort of Cheesecake Burrito with Bananas ($8 or $9) They do not have desserts on the website, so the description of this dish is lacking, sorry about that. Anyway, you got a HUGE dessert for the money, but it did not work. I give them an A for creativity, but a D for execution. We saw the wine list (just printed on a piece of paper at this point), but skipped it for other drinks. It looked good, good selection and the prices were reasonable, hopefully it remains that way when it becomes more permanent. Anyway, as the night went on, the "restaurant" side was pretty much full, lots of youngsters coming in to grab a bite before hitting the dance floor. Around 10:00 PM, the music was so loud in the restaurant that it was unbearable, so if you are coming to eat and don't like it loud, I would come on the earlier side. Overall, the food was so so. I think that it can get better over time and become an above average place for downtown Fairfax, but since almost all of their business seemed to stem from the "club" side of Rain, it is still up in the air whether the "restaurant" side will get the attention it needs. By the way, we actually went over to the "club" side for a while and promptly left in about 30 minutes. I still go out a lot, a place like Fly Lounge is where you would find me at night, but I felt like an old man here. The music was obnoxiously loud, there were 3 guys for every 1 girl and it was so packed that you couldn't move. The drinks were cheap though, $6 for a Grey Goose on the rocks with olives, so I can't complain about that.

Growing up in this area, it has been nuts seeing RTC grow the way that it has, utterly shocking. While the parking is awful, I am actually impressed that the traffic around there never seems to be as bad as other places that I drive. Anyway, they pushed out Lee's Ice Cream (original tenant) for Ben and Jerry's. Then they pushed out the sandwich place that used to be there, I think it was called WrapWorks, and word is that they are putting a Potbelly in its place. They say it is all to bring business into the shopping center, but could they possibly need any more business!? And, is anyone going to seriously go through the hassle of going to RTC for an ice cream cone at Ben and Jerry's!? People may be more likely to buy ice cream at Ben and Jerry's as opposed to Lee's, but I would be shocked if more people are coming to RTC just for that reason. You put in more anchor stores for things like that, not ice cream and sandwich shops.

I pretty much think that almost all bagels in this area are awful, but I agree that Bagel Buddies is as good as it gets for this part of the metro area. I will have to say, however, that I almost never go there because the line is painfully slow. I have no problem with places being slower because they are packed, but they are the most inefficient counter service/fast food place that I have seen in quite a while. I generally see four or five people behind the counter, but it always seems like only one person does anything at one time. And, since I am a business process guru in real life, this bugs me to no end!

Dan, I feel your pain, I really do. I moved to Fair Oaks when I was 6 years old and lived there until I graduated from high school when I was 18. Since then, I was at UVA for 4 years and then in Arlington for 5 years before moving back to the area almost 4 years ago. Those 5 years in Arlington, from a food perspective, were awesome. So close to the city, able to take advantage of every hole in the wall place that existed, etc. But now, out in our area, it is a new challenge every day to find somewhere good to eat. And, I am going to tell you one thing, it is not pretty. I still eat 90% of my dinners out in the city or close by (Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda), but I still need places to eat at on a Tuesday night as well. And, while Vienna (Bazin's) and Tysons (Maestro) and Merrifield (2941) are not quite as far away as the city, during rush hour during the week, they may as well be. Anyway, back to your original question, there really aren't any hidden treasures. Tony's NY Pizza in Fair Lakes is good and the pizza at Pomodoro in Fairfax Town Center is almost on the same level, but neither deliver. Chutzpah (better here than in Tysons) is in that same shopping center as Pomodoro, you can also find Moby Dick's House of Kabob there as well, so it not a bad little shopping center for that type of food. And, I may get skewered for this, but I have been to Blue Iguana in Fair Lakes a bunch of times and have never been disappointed (especially for lunch and brunch). It isn't amazing, but they try, which is all that I can ask for some days. As you get closer to Fairfax City, the food, surprisingly, does not get any better. I will second the Dolce Vita vote from above, but not Saravana Palace. Honestly, I am not an Indian food expert, but I have been there three or four times already and I don't see what the big deal is. I don't find it much better or worse than any other vegetarian Indian place. Le Tire Bouchon is OK as far as traditional French cuisine goes, but can be pricey for what it is. Then again, out here, beggers can't be choosers. You could also try Rain in downtown Fairfax, although I haven't been there yet, so I can't vouch for it. If you travel west, which I don't often, there is a place called Hot Breads in Chantilly which has some interesting Indian sandwiches and snacks. I also haven't ventured much out to Centreville, but there is a Rosemary's Thyme Bistro there, off of Union Mill, that is good, I would recommend that place. So Dan, sorry that I couldn't be of much help, but there are a few ideas for you to check out. Let us/me know if you find anything else, I sure could use a few more places to check out during the week.

Saturday night was the night, the night that I FINALLY got my Christmas present and the night that I FINALLY got to go to minibar. Honestly, it was probably the first time that I was filled with anticipation to go to a restaurant since I visited Rain in Toronto this past summer. I mean, I have been happy to check out some of the new places in the past seven or eight months (PS7, Bebo Trattoria, Central), but I was giddy about going to minibar on Saturday night. Maybe it was because I had no idea what I was about to encounter, maybe it was because I knew that I couldn't make half of the stuff on the menu or maybe it was because my Christmas present was coming 6 weeks late! Whatever it was, I was psyched, and I am happy to report that it wasn't a disappointment. Without boring everyone with the details, I will just toss out the dishes that I loved and the dishes that I didn't love as much. The great ones... Tumbleweed of Beet Cotton Candy Foie Gras Bagels and Lox Curried Chicken Wing Lobster Americaine Feta Linguine Egg 63 with Caviar Philly Cheesesteak Japanese Baby Peaches with Yogurt (the only dessert we really loved) The not so great ones... Salmon Pineapple Ravioli with Crispy Quinoa Sea Urchin with Passion Fruit Smoked Oyster and Apples Maracuya Marshmallow (I could have put more desserts on here, but this was the worst) Honestly, even the bad dishes were good, but with everything else being so great, they paled in comparison. Some other notes... 1. The wine pairing that we got (Sexy and Lucsious) was good. It has to be hard to try to pair wine with this many courses, but they did a good job. 2. Everyone that worked there was just awesome. Very willing to chat about anything you wanted to, but also hands off enough so that you could have conversations on your own without feeling like they were butting in. 3. How do they make money? I am convinced that this is a money losing venture, but Jose Andres and company do it for the prestige. They have six seats twice a night, and they are only open five nights a week. So, how do they make money with 60 customers per week when A) the food costs are high (even though the amount of food is small, the ingredients are expensive), 2) the labor costs are high (we had three full-time chefs, one part-time chef and one waitress) and 3) the equipment costs are high (they have a slew of specialty equipment that most restaurants wouldn't have). Hey, maybe I am wrong on this one, but it just doesn't seem like they can make money on minibar (not that they don't make up for it with everyone that can't get in there going to Cafe Atlantico, Jaleo, Zaytinya, etc.). So, all in all, an amazing experience, everyone should do it at least once.

While I constantly curse the day that I moved out to the suburbs, I at least have the new Whole Foods in Fair Lakes to be thankful for. It has been open for a bit less than a month now and I can say that I have already been there five or six times to eat, which is what happens when you tell your friends that you like it and they ask you to come along with them. The size is obviously a selling point for me, lots more space means they get to carry a lot more products, which I appreciate. The "restaurants" that they have there are good as well. The barbeque joint is just OK, but the amount of food that you get when you order "The Kitchen Sink" is absurd for the $13 price tag. But, since I tend to shy away from above average food, even for a good price, I have eaten most often at the seafood place that they have. A Tilapia BLT on Texas Toast with Fries is well worth the $8. I also have had pretty good food at the Asian grill that they have there. Anyway, I could go on for a long time about this place, but I will talk about the highlight and the lowlight. Highlight first... The wine tasting room upstairs is just plain cool. The fact that you can taste from a $600 bottle of wine if you want to is awesome. The fact that you can get 1, 3 or 5 ounce pours is great as well. And the variety, between 70 and 80 bottles, is a nice treat. Personally, I have been to no place quite like this, so it is nice to have around, even if you can drop $50 there on an evening in a blink of an eye. Now, the lowlight of the new Whole Foods... It looks like the Italian "restaurant" that they have at the store is the featured eating venue in the place. It is somewhat separated from the rest of the hustle and bustle of the store and has much more seating for everyone. I haven't eaten there yet, but the menu has looked very creative for a "restaurant" in Whole Foods (think pumpkin ravioli and ricotta gnocchi). Anyway, we went last night to try to Italian place and the menu was half the size it used to be with pizza being the highlight along with a few sandwiches (meatball sub, etc.) and some basic pastas (spaghetti with meatballs). In my state of confusion I asked the lady that worked there about the new, smaller and less creative menu and she told me that they wanted to simplify it because those cooler, more creative and more tasty items weren't selling at all. How? Don't ask me, but I guess that is the upside (bigger space to build a cool store) and downside (plain vanilla customers) of being in the suburbs. Overall, the place is great though, may be a fun day trip for city dwellers to make at some point.

I went there back in the fall when the weather was beautiful and sat in the courtyard outside. But, other than the nice atmosphere, and good people watching, I really have nothing good to say about this place. The service was haphazard, they were either all over us at inopportune times or impossible to find, and the food was pretty bad. A lot of people stated that we just ordered the wrong things, but should there ever be any "wrong things" at a good restaurant!? While I cannot remember exactly what we ate that day, I do remember getting an assortment of tea sandwiches, I think we had all six that they offered that day, and they were all awful. Soggy was the one word that I would use to describe them with flavorless being a close second. I also remember getting the hot chocolate and being surprised that it was so watered down. I couldn't imagine that a place like this would use water to make their hot chocolate, but they must have, no way that there was any milk in that thing. Anyway, I know several people that have gone there and had a good time, so we could have just shown up on a bad day, so don't let my bad review keep you from going. But, I would probably take some time to read what other people said tasted good and order those items as opposed to going out on a limb and being disappointed.

I used to work in Herndon and we would stop by SBC every two of three weeks for lunch. It was always good and pretty creative for a small lunch place in the middle of a rundown strip shopping center. Alas, I don't work there anymore, but I took the day off today and went to lunch with some old work colleagues and ended up at SBC. I had the chicken pot pie, which was well worth the $9.95 price tag, and everyone else seemed happy with their choices (mostly sandwiches). And, it must be doing pretty well, when we left around 1:00 there was about a dozen people waiting for tables and that is a lot since it is a pretty small place. I would stick to lunch there though. I went once for dinner after work and I felt like we got the same menu, same portions, but got stuck with a tab about two times as much as normal.

I was there for restaurant week this past January, that is what happens when your friends decide to go out for restaurant week that night at 2:00 on a Thursday afternoon, and I will say that it was an uneven experience. Some of the food was quite good, there was a plethora of good looking girls sitting at the tables and our waitress was very nice. But, I felt that the food was overpriced, even at restaurant week prices, and I had the single worst item that I have ever had at a "nice" restaurant in my entire life! The side dish on my plate was a mashed sweet potato with some vanilla. I like sweet potatoes, I mash them at home often, but I took one bite of it and literally stopped dead in my tracks. I am not sure if the sweet potatoes were rotten (can that even happen!?) or the seasoning was just way off, but it was awful and everyone else at my table agreed with me. The waitress could tell that something was wrong, because it was the only thing left on my plate, and I simply told her that it was horrendous. I felt kind of bad about doing it, but I was trying to be helpful so that the kitchen staff could correct the error. I can't imagine that it was supposed to taste like that, is that possible? Anyway, not to kick a restaurant when it is down because our experience was mostly good other than that. Can't say that I was ever going to go back there again, but there are much worse restaurants that are still in business.

So, after being on my list for about a year, I finally got the chance to check out Bazin's last night. While I am embarassed that it took me so long to get around to it (I do live in Fairfax after all), I can say that it definitely was worth waiting for. Here is the deal...Fairfax County needs more places like this, particularly in areas not named Arlington or Alexandria. Do you know how hard it is to get to Arlington or Alexandria from Fairfax on a week night!? I still do it, but I always am a bit frazzled when I finally get to the restaurant. Anyway, the decor was nice, it was a nice mix of comfortable and trendy without being too over the top. They need to do something about the acoustics in there because it was quite loud for a 2/3 filled dinning room on a Tuesday night. I can't imagine what it would be like on a Saturday night with a packed house. The service was fine. There was a good pace to the courses and our glasses were always filled when they needed to be. I would have preferred a server with a bit less attitude (he definitely felt like he was too cool for school), but that was one guy, everyone else seemed very pleasant. The food was solid, teetering on great, but with one thing that I would have changed about each dish... 1. Potato and Onion Ravioli with Lobster Sauce - Loved the sauce, loved the pasta, but the filling was a bit too mushy for me. I felt like it was missing a texture component because the potatoes and the onions were pureed together. It was very good flavor wise though, I just think they could make it a tiny bit better. 2. Salmon with Grits, Spinach and Lobster Bisque Sauce - The grits were the best part of our meal, they were creamy while keeping the integrity of the grit. The sauce was great too, no doubt about that. The salmon, however, was a bit overcooked. So, the dish would have been top notch if not for that, that was just an execution issue though, you are going to come across those every once in a while. 3. Braised Veal with Gnocchi, Asparagus and Fennel - The veal was cooked perfectly and the gnocchi was a hit due to the sauteeing after it had been cooked, but the asparagus and fennel seemed like a throw away. It was fine, it was cooked properly, but I kept asking myself why it was there. 4. Chocolate and Peanut Butter Tart with Chocolate Sorbet - I actually thought this was the best executed of the dishes on the night, but I prefer all of the other dishes to this one. The other dishes somewhat surprised me when they came out, they were interesting to me, but this one was exactly what I expected. That is a good thing to some people, but I just expected a little bit more, it just seemed like a good dessert to me, but nothing that I will remember next week. The total bill for the food listed above and two glasses of wine was around $90 without tip. Overall, I really liked Bazin's. I feel that it is a place that I can go back to and have a different experience sitting at the bar or with a bigger group of people or with a date (I was with my dad last night). That is saying a lot for me, I rarely go to a place more than once with so many other options out there, but if the restaurant offers different experiences depending on the company, I tend to go back. Personally I think they need to tweak one or two things, but I was very happy with my experience. By the way, we got there about 30 minutes early and headed to the wine store next door. The owner (I think his name was Doug, but I suck with names) was very knowledgeable and just a pleasant guy to talk to. He answered questions when we asked, but was not too pushy. He even suggested some cheaper wines that he thought were better than more expensive wines we were picking out, which I liked. Anyway, I got 9 bottles, I am a sucker for a good wine store.

I have had more good experiences than bad ones during Restaurant Week, but isn't it funny how the bad ones are the ones that always stick out in your mind? It is like going to a comedy club, you can go to one and have a great night, but you don't remember any of the jokes. But, if you go on an awful night, you are somehow able to remember all of the jokes. Makes no sense at all. Anyway, gone are the days where I would go to a place for dinner all five weeknights and then brunch/lunch on the two weekend days (which I did twice and I would NEVER recommend that anyone else do). So, this year we only went to dinner three nights (21P, PS7, Colvin Run) and had an enjoyable time at all three places. The only disappointment that I really had however, especially from an expectations standpoint, was at Colvin Run. I used to work in Tysons, so I have been there about half a dozen times, and was shocked at how small the portions were during Restaurant Week. For my entree I had one slice of pork tenderloin (maybe about 1/3 to a 1/2 inch thick)! I do not expect to be completely full when I leave restaurants, but I sure don't want to be hungry either. If you are not going to serve full size portions, offer less choices to your diners or don't participate at all. And, yes, I know that it also sucks to go to a place that doesn't offer its whole menu, or close to it, but I would prefer a limited menu with full size portions as opposed to the whole menu with portions chopped in half.

We were seated in the new section on Saturday evening, but as we walked with the hostess to our table, there had to be 15 to 20 tables that were just empty and maybe 50 people waiting in the bar area to be seated (and we all know that 50 people in that bar is a debacle).

I have been a member for quite some time, but this is my first post. Some of you may ask, "Why have you waited so long to post?" Honestly, no real good reason, maybe it was my laziness or my apathy, but I have a good feeling that once I take this first step, you won't get me to shut up, so I apologize in advance for that. Anyway, I am sad that my first post has to be negative in nature, but since I was just there on Saturday evening, I feel that I have to make my feelings known... Why did Matchbox even bother expanding their space? Don't get me wrong, the expansion is nice, the new space is really cool, but why have it if you refuse to use it? This is the fourth time that I have been there since they completed the expansion and it is the fourth time that I have seen masses of people waiting for tables and dozens of tables open in the new space. Do they just not have enough servers to man the sections? Is their kitchen space too small to keep up with the orders? Or, do they just want to create a crowd so people that walk by see it and say, "This must be a cool place to hang out, why don't we just jam ourselves into this tiny bar and make everyone more miserable!?" No matter what the reason, it doesn't make any sense to me. Is it that hard to get wait staff? Is it difficult to build a bigger kitchen when you had plenty of space to build out the tables? And, could a restaurant these days really think that it is a good idea to make people wait for no reason at all? Didn't that trend end like five years ago? Anyway, it makes me upset to say it, because I have always liked Matchbox (their food, their drinks, their atmosphere), but I cannot imagine going back again. Only once during those four trips did we wait for a table, which happened to be this Saturday because I had to make a work phone call and the others didn't mind waiting in a space like canned sardines, so they missed out on huge bills three times simply because they are unable to seat people. I hope that things change there or at least someone can explain to me why they can't fill dozens of empty tables with people waiting to eat.