Portion Size

[Don Evans]

I recently ate at DC Coast wher I've had anumber of memorable meals. But last week I was taken aback to be served a tiny 3- 4 oz piece of Alaskan halibut. This partiuclar entree was $27.00, so the stingy portion was especially painful. When I pointed out the issue to my waiter, he and the management immediately rectified the situation by providing another portion and I went away satisfied, but it did leave me and my dinner companions wondering when a diner is justified in complaining that a portion is just too small.

I wrote in to "Ask Tom" at the Wash. Post, who is looking into the issue, but wondered if anybody here has any thoughts.

Don

[Anna Blume]

Welcome to Donrockwell!

While individual protein needs differ, an adult weighing 150 pounds should eat about 55 grams of protein daily to maintain weight and health.

A 4-ounce portion of halibut (approx 114 g) contains roughly 30 grams of protein, thereby supplying well over half the amount of protein you needed to consume that day.

If wild-caught, the Alaskan halibut was perhaps the more expensive option for a Green Kitchen to buy to avoid depleting supplies of less sustainable seafood.

What else was on the plate?

[porcupine]

Funny, I was thinking of starting a thread on this very topic, except that I have the opposite complaint. With the exception of fine dining places, a lot of restaurants serve outrageously oversized portions. It irritates me when the main course itself is more than twice as much food as I intended to eat during the entire meal, because then I can't get any other courses unless someone (like MrP or a close friend) wants to share.

Recently tried to get a "kids" size scoop of ice cream - you know, a single, small scoop, not one where the jockey tries to get as much product as possible into the scoop before balancing it on top of the cone - and they wouldn't sell it to me 'cause I'm not a kid.

Because of this I have a marked preference for restaurants that serve small dishes (think tapas, or the small plates at Dino and 2Amys, or A&J). Am I the only weirdo out their who hates getting too much for the money?

But to get back to the original question, yes, I've been irritated by that, too. At a certain very well thought of upper end place and board favorite an appetizer of hamachi was beautifully plated with little dabs of sauces and fruits and vegetables and whatnot, but the actual hamachi portion was about half the size of my pinkie finger. And the dish was priced in the double digits, if memory serves.

[zoramargolis]

At BlackSalt, the entree fish portions weighed 5 oz. when cut.