derekc

I asked and was told it was connected to the one in Arlington. --- I split off a separate thread for El Paso Cafe (in Arlington) here. After a fair amount of research, it was determined that the Arlington location is separately owned with a slightly different name.

I just worked it out brute force real quickly in excel. 24 possible arrangements of the plates 9 of which are wrong for everybody, so that is 37.5% (as you said). Care to share the math? Yes and 4.167% for getting all correct (1 out of 24).

Went there again. Had paella again and it was very good, again. The other had cassoulet she loved it and I also thought it was very good. The sausage in it was very tasty and tender with none of the gristley unpleasant things you sometime get small pieces of in mass produced sausage. However the main purpose of this post is to point out if you get on this list, http://greaterdulles.suddenvalues.com/ You will very frequently get coupons for this El Manantial, for buy one entree get one free (up to $19.95) making this restaurant quite a good deal,

25% agreed 25% 75% chance on first plate, 66.7% on the second 50% on the third no choice on the last. .75 *.6667 * .5 = .25 (approx)

the last time i ate there it was 3 or 4 yrs ago the food was very good and so was the service; so i can't really say how the food is these days. however, i do know (and the main point of this post) that the maitre diva has left since i last ate there.

i think this place is great: Banjara. at lunch they used to have a buffet. the buffet was very good especially during diwali when they wen t all out on deserts. if i didn't eat the bufet i ate tandoori. the numerous indian guys i worked with loved the place.

The grilled shrimp looked good (so did the pork chop) unfortunately the shrimp were on other people's plates not mine. As for the service, no wine list had to ask for it, no list of the drinks that come in the mason jars at all, no check to see how dinner was, no refill on tea, no spoon with tea until asked, no check to see if I wanted another cocktail until we were ready for the check. They did not have fried chicken on the menu when I was there, or put it this way, the "waitress" described the chicken as roasted. The pork chops we had were cooked so poorly they would have been overpriced even if they were free.

Ate there last night. What a disappointment. Dry over cooked pork chop. Watery but interesting twist on Gazpacho, watery baked potato soup but it had really good bacon in it. Great bread. Terrible, inattentive service. Very high priced wine list.

The place used to be great. Unfortunately it has really gone downhill.

their food is not fit for a dog.

I ate at El Manantial for Restaurant Week last night and it was very good. I had calamari appetizer and paella for my entree. The calamari was excellent as was the paella. I especially liked that the calamari didn't come with marinara sauce, it came with some kind of aioli sauce on the plate and the sauce was very good. The paella did not look like a lot of food, but looks were deceiving. The rice was very moist and the paella was loaded with seafood, about 5 mussels 5 clams, a big piece of fish, 2 large shrimp and lots of calamari. The other person who I was with had french onion soup and that was very good. She had the Ny Strip steak. Although the NY strip is one of my least favorite cuts of meat, this steak was very good. The steak was moist, tender, flavorful, and cooked correctly. The steak came with a a pepper sauce that was similar yet different to an au poivre and the steak was seasoned so that it was very yummy. I would not let the fact that the restaurant is in a strip mall scare you, after all it is in Reston so unless it was in the town center there is no choice but for it to be in a strip mall. I consider it to be a good thing that it isn't in the town center because it made parking very easy. Also, the inside of the restaurant is very nice. There were more options for RW than I saw on their website (their website could use a makover). There was Steak, Pork, Fish, Chicken, and Paella. Finally, the sangria is a little pricey $20 for a carafe, but it was very good.

Is Cuba Libre now in the Tropicana itself? It wasn't when I ate there.

I just ate at Mendocino for the first time ever on Sunday night at RW. Here is what I thought, The half price Sunday wine was not offered. This was disappointing but understandable. I was hoping to try one of the bottles that go for about $150 that are damn near impossible to get a hold of (I am on a waiting list for several of them). The service was below average, downright slow and inattentive. The place is very small, but nicely decorated. It is unfortunate that their columns/wall broke up the main dining area and gave the place a claustrophobic feel, but I imagine this is unavoidable given the size of the dining area. Amuse Bouche - something that looked like a pastry that you would use for a cream puff, but not quite as flaky, but still puffed with a hollow center. It had a little salt on it and tasted somewhat like a pretzel. Terrible, I would have rather had bread. For appetizers: Robiola - The person that ordered liked it but I didn't care for it. The person that ordered it thought that it wasn't warm enough and I agreed. Yellowfin Tuna Carpaccio - Very good, worth the four dollar upcharge. Side note - It had what looked like little red Jell-O cubes (unflavored) on it, not sure what they were or what that was about. Main courses: Hangar steak (medium) - Arrived well done or med well at best and was not hot, it was tepid. After I managed to flag our waitress down, I sent it back. The next attempt came out hot and cooked to the proper level. It was a little tough, but I suppose that cut is always a little tough. The sides of mashed potatoes were good but exceptionally small. Suzuki - Hazelnut and coriander crusted suzuki - I had never had that type of fish before. They said it was a Japanese black sea bass. It was delicious. Very moist and flaky. The crust was also delicious. The side was fennel, celery, turnips, tarragon, blood orange sauce and was very good. (the blood orange sauce was just two drizzles on the plate, strictly for appearance). For desert, they were out of the only desert I really wanted that was offered without an upcharge. After placing desert orders the waitress came back to inform us that the upcharges were being waived because they had run out of the one dessert (they are all the same price on the menu anyway). Therefore, we had the apple beignets with cinnamon ice cream and a chocolate mouse cake. They were both ok. The beignets were a tad overly greasy and tough and the cake was good but nothing exceptional. Free fourth course of a home made hot chocolate (in a tequila shooter) and a miniature chocolate chip cookie, both good. Overall, I was disappointed with the service and the food. Perhaps my expectations were too high given all the good things I had heard about the place or perhaps I just caught them on an off night.

Hopefully this isn't too late for you. But I ate at Cuba Libre and it was very good and reasonably priced. I went with a couple of very picky eaters and they enjoyed it too. I can't remember what we had because it was a couple of years ago when I ate there. Defintely not in the casino but not that far away either. When I went there it was near Christmas time so it was not very crowded and it was quiet. Here is a link to the website http://www.cubalibrerestaurant.com/ac_index.php There is also a place at the end of the strip (right hand side of the strip as you face the ocean). It is not on the ocean side of the strip and it might even be one block off the strip. It is a combination italian restaurant/deli/italian grocery store. Not high end but very good and reasonably priced. It has parking there too. Sorry I can't remeber the name of the place, but it wouldn't be hard to find. Lastly, the Steel Pier has been enclosed and is full of shopping and restaurants.