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"Never Again" Experiences


mame11

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My fault for going despite many warnings not to, but I went to Mie N Yu during Restaurant Week for a friend's birthday...I had been told by a good friend that the food was great and the atmosphere was not to be missed; I trusted the flesh-and-blood opinion of this friend over the numerous yet anonymous voices in cyberspace. My mistake!

I had duck, he had crab cakes...and while there was nothing wrong with the meal per se, the food was just so ho-hum that I was essentailly bored with the whole experience. The waiter was very friendly, the wine list was decent, the atmosphere certainly was beautiful (if a bit overdone)...it was just such blah food that I felt like a chump paying even the RW prices.

I think I'll start trusting e-pinions, especially from this type of forum, more willingly now!

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I just thought of another one: This bagel joint in CP where my boyfriend and I would go just about once a week for good for DC bagles...I was picking out the last three of our dozen when I saw the biggest roach of my life crawl out of the salt bagels and make his way into the blueberry section.

have not been back since.

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I just thought of another one:  This bagel joint in CP where my boyfriend and I would go just about once a week for good for DC bagles...I was picking out the last three of our dozen when I saw the biggest roach of my life crawl out of the salt bagels and make his way into the blueberry section.

have not been back since.

Imagine what you don't see at other places you like! :P

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An interesting question for us is when we've had a bad experience, under what circumstances do we decide to return anyway. My husband's tipping point is very low: i.e. if it's an upscale, moderate-to-high price point ($20+ entrees) kind of place, and he doesn't have a really good experience, he doesn't want to go back because we live in a city full of great restaurants. So why waste our dining dollars on a place that wasn't great when there are other places, at that price point, that are much better. (Obviously, a different standard applies if it's a neighborhood joint or a "cheap eats" place, etc.). I have a higher threshold-- if it seems like an isolated problem-- I will give it another shot.

But, there is one high-end dowtown Italian restaurant where we were carded in a very rude manner (the waiter really studied our IDs and held them up to the light to ensure that they were not fakes, etc). Irrationally, I refuse to go back because I was mortified and did not appreciate being made to feel like I was a criminal. (I hate being carded--I am well over 21 but do look a bit young-- but I think a good server can handle it in a graceful way.) Sometimes I think I am missing out on this place, but I get so irritated when I think about going there.

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:P

according to washingtonpost.com's best bets, maggiano's is the area's best italian.  :P

Gaag!! :wub: I once had drinks there at the small bar downstairs (Just inside DC at the bethesda border) and could hardly get the bartender's attention for a menu and then to order apps, so we just gave up. I think there were 5 other people at the bar...jeez...

best bets my ass!

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One of my favorite there's-a-fly-in-my-soup episodes occured at a venerable establishment near Dupont Circle, where the my server's response to the very much alive roach in my salad was "I'm so sorry, chef insists on using organic lettuces grown without pesticides."

:wub:

I have served the occasional small green fruit worm on berries before, but i do beleive that is only an excuse for garden-insects, ladybugs, etc, not for la cucaracha

:P

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City Lights of China in Dupont. My mom is visiting and one of her friends insisted that it was the best Chinese in the city. I had said no to the other places her friends from home had recommended so I thought how bad can City Lights actually be. Well, it is just not worth the calories. 'Nuff said.

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Johnny's Half Shell-dropped $120 for an average lunch for two that included crabcakes the size of marbles for $24, and a boring bouillabaise, also $24, overpriced wine by the glass at $12, and the ambience of a diner.  Never understood the attraction of this place.

You are not alone.

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City Lights of China in Dupont.  My mom is visiting and one of her friends insisted that it was the best Chinese in the city.  I had said no to the other places her friends from home had recommended so I thought how bad can City Lights actually be.  Well, it is just not worth the calories.  'Nuff said.

I always considered City Lights to have some of the best sichuan food within the city limits of DC, unless it has gone down hill, which is possible because it has been a year or so since I have been there. What was it that you did not like?

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I always considered City Lights to have some of the best sichuan food within the city limits of DC, unless it has gone down hill, which is possible because it has been a year or so since I have been there.  What was it that you did not like?

Good question... I think my main disappointment was the feeling that my mouth could serve as a salt lick long after the meal was over. The fake crab in the dishes also a disappointment. The poor quality of the dumplings not so satisifying. Oh they should not have adopted the fad of the crab ragoon. Yeah, not so good.
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Here's a list of my "UNFORGETTABLE" meals since I moved to the area last Memorial Day:

Legal Seafoods Crystal City: plastic rubberband on the top of my chowder

Il Raddichio Arlington: spider on my lettuce - still alive mind you !!

Macaroni Grill Ballston: "black& blue" chicken - seems to be a trend here.... :lol:

Clyde's Georgetown: plastic bread bag tie in burger

I am giving up on chain restaurants big and small - if they have more than one location, they're on the DO NOT EAT THERE list...

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So I guess no Jaleo, no Teaism, no Mesa Grill, no Charlie Palmers for you.

:lol:

Maybe I'll just cut out the more commercial-everyman restaurants...

I love Chef Brian at Charlie Palmer's...Teaism is my fav Dupont hangout.

I am a little over the tapas trend although Oyamel's desserts always get to me and after working in the Food Network Kitchen and with Senor Flay on the set - Mesa Grill is most definitely out.

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:lol:

Maybe I'll just cut out the more commercial-everyman restaurants...

I love Chef Brian at Charlie Palmer's...Teaism is my fav Dupont hangout.

I am a little over the tapas trend although Oyamel's desserts always get to me and after working in the Food Network Kitchen and with Senor Flay on the set - Mesa Grill is most definitely out.

Is Senor Flay the same way in person as he appears on TV?

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But, there is one high-end dowtown Italian restaurant where we were carded in a very rude manner (the waiter really studied our IDs and held them up to the light to ensure that they were not fakes, etc).  Irrationally, I refuse to go back because I was mortified and did not appreciate being made to feel like I was a criminal.  (I hate being carded--I am well over 21 but do look a bit young-- but I think a good server can handle it in a graceful way.)

Just give it a couple years ... I always enjoy being carded. The best was at a Virginia ABC store while buying a bottle of Tanqueray Ten on my 39th birthday.

Second best was when I got carded in a New Mexico grocery store while buying a six of O'Doull's amber. For some reason, the cashier "had" to card me because it rang up in their system as beer.

So look forward to the day when you are 40+ and you get carded while buying beer-flavored soft drinks.

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Just give it a couple years ... I always enjoy being carded. The best was at a Virginia ABC store while buying a bottle of Tanqueray Ten on my 39th birthday.

Second best was when I got carded in a New Mexico grocery store while buying a six of O'Doull's amber.  For some reason, the cashier "had" to card me because it rang up in their system as beer. 

So look forward to the day when you are 40+ and you get carded while buying beer-flavored soft drinks.

You can't eat it, but...

About 5 years ago (at age 31 and 6'5 / 450) I was carded when buying a CD with explicit lyrics.

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Marty's on 8th St. in Eastern Market - Horrible service and even worse food.

Went in on Saturday night out of desperation (couldn't wait for Banana or Belga) with fairly low expectations.

The waitress didn't really have a great grasp of English, which is fine (more so in ethnic restaurants) but you do reach a point where it just isn't working. When asking about drink specials we were given dinner specials. We requested drinks that never came, food not prepared as requested, or dishes completely different from what we ordered altogether.

Cold and soggy french fries, still frozen chicken strips, and a burnt steak later, and we decided the 7-11 would have been a better option!

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I was in Austin, Texas over the weekend and ate lunch at a (supposedly) cajun place called Jazz. The place was pretty blah in most ways, including culinarily. But the service was on a different planet: A terrible, horrific planet. At every turn, the waitress made no effort to hide the fact that she was hung over and really irritated that we were even there. (Only two or three tables were occupied.) The worst was when she dropped off our food and drinks and asked if we needed anything else. We asked for water. She quite openly scoffed and rolled her eyes before walking off to fulfill our cheeky, aggressive request.

I am a REALLY low-maintenance guy, service-wise. But open scoffing from a waitress exceeds even my liberal bounds.

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But open scoffing from a waitress exceeds even my liberal bounds.

Hear, hear. Last night I had an experience where I literally felt like I was the service provider, not the surly restaurant bartender. This was at a quiet restaurant at a time when I was the sole customer.
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Back to Roaches....in Nawlins (New Orleans!) cockroaches were so plentiful when I lived there in the early 80's, that it would have been unusual NOT to have seen one in a restaurant - literally! I ate at the venerable Pascale Manales (they've been credited as the originators of "Barbecued Shrimp") where cockroaches of varying sizes climbed up the wall - we didn't want to act like tourists, so we ignored them and ate our meal happily! Shrimp are from the same family as spiders, you just have to get over cultural biases, I mean I happily ate the cicadas when they were in season last year...whoooops, a photo!

BUT, bugs in restaurant food, well that's a different story!! Takeout chinese from a restaurant in Langley Park, MD had a cockroach sitting in it, I definitely took that back! Chopsticks Restaurant in Chinatown here in DC a few years back, my Chinese girlfriend wouldn't eat in the restaurant after the 10th cockroach walked through her menu, we left! Whole Foods salad greens a few years ago were full of aphids - organic of course!

So who at DR.com actually has tried insects on purpose, fess up???

post-272-1130881686_thumb.jpg

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Back to Roaches....in Nawlins (New Orleans!) cockroaches were so plentiful when I lived there in the early 80's, that it would have been unusual NOT to have seen one in a restaurant - literally!  I ate at the venerable Pascale Manales (they've been credited as the originators of "Barbecued Shrimp") where cockroaches of varying sizes climbed up the wall - we didn't want to act like tourists, so we ignored them and ate our meal happily!  Shrimp are from the same family as spiders, you just have to get over cultural biases, I mean I happily ate the cicadas when they were in season last year...whoooops, a photo!

BUT, bugs in restaurant food, well that's a different story!!  Takeout chinese from a restaurant in Langley Park, MD had a cockroach sitting in it, I definitely took that back!  Chopsticks Restaurant in Chinatown here in DC a few years back, my Chinese girlfriend wouldn't eat in the restaurant after the 10th cockroach walked through her menu, we left!  Whole Foods salad greens a few years ago were full of aphids - organic of course!

So who at DR.com actually has tried insects on purpose, fess up???

i don't mind the occasional aphid. they are spicy.

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BUT, bugs in restaurant food, well that's a different story!!  Takeout chinese from a restaurant in Langley Park, MD had a cockroach sitting in it, I definitely took that back!  Chopsticks Restaurant in Chinatown here in DC a few years back, my Chinese girlfriend wouldn't eat in the restaurant after the 10th cockroach walked through her menu, we left!  Whole Foods salad greens a few years ago were full of aphids - organic of course!

Do people think roaches are a big deal? I am no expert, but I tend to think that where food is, roaches will follow (so a stray roach is no biggie, though they are gross). My husband (who has worked in a restaurant) begs to differ and thinks roaches are a sign of uncleanliness. Over the weekend, we watched a small roach crawl out of the vent at 2 amys, fortunately pass our table, but actually crawled onto our neighbor's table. (This was at the bar area with the tall tables against the wall, at the same height as the vents.) We mentioned it to our server, but didn't expect "anything" for it, of course. (Had it crawled onto our table, it might be a different story.) (We LOVE 2 amys and this won't change our view of the place.)

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Back to Roaches....in Nawlins (New Orleans!) cockroaches were so plentiful when I lived there in the early 80's, that it would have been unusual NOT to have seen one in a restaurant - literally!  I ate at the venerable Pascale Manales (they've been credited as the originators of "Barbecued Shrimp") where cockroaches of varying sizes climbed up the wall - we didn't want to act like tourists, so we ignored them and ate our meal happily!  Shrimp are from the same family as spiders, you just have to get over cultural biases, I mean I happily ate the cicadas when they were in season last year...whoooops, a photo!

BUT, bugs in restaurant food, well that's a different story!!  Takeout chinese from a restaurant in Langley Park, MD had a cockroach sitting in it, I definitely took that back!  Chopsticks Restaurant in Chinatown here in DC a few years back, my Chinese girlfriend wouldn't eat in the restaurant after the 10th cockroach walked through her menu, we left!  Whole Foods salad greens a few years ago were full of aphids - organic of course!

So who at DR.com actually has tried insects on purpose, fess up???

I've eaten fried locsusts in Thailand.

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I've eaten fried locsusts in Thailand.

To clarify my previous post about bugs, I bought a paper cone full of fried locusts in Thailand circa 1986. They weren't bad; tasted like crunchy things fried in sweet sauce. You're are supposed to pull of the heads and wings before you eat them. Maybe it's just something they eat when they have a plague of locusts? They should have thought about that in the Old Testament: when life deals you locusts, eat fried locusts! They also eat something similar in the north of Japan, but they're called inago, and they're pickled.

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Two weeks ago, I got carded when buying a bottle of wine at the Whole Foods in Vienna, at 55+ with a full head of grey hair.

In the cashier's defense, I believe that Whole Foods requires employees to enter a date of birth with every alcohol purchase.
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In the cashier's defense, I believe that Whole Foods requires employees to enter a date of birth with every alcohol purchase.

they always make up a birth date for me, shaving at least a decade off my age, and i am a frequent wine purchaser. however, i have been carded a few times. personally, i think there is way too much emphasis on policing this at stores and restaurants and the drinking age should be restored to 18. incidentally, most of my time is spent in the district and i am usually impaired with a blood alcohol level of 0.0. :lol:

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No such luck. Just a really stupid cashier who was told to check id's to make sure wine and beer purchasers were over 21, so she asked to see everyone's driver's license.

In defense of the cashier...

According to ABC law in Virginia and DC, the cashier is responsible for serving underaged personally. That is when the ABC comes in with a 28 year old looking underager and catch a casher, the cashier gets a ticket and/or arrented as well as the store getting a fine. At WFM the cashier will be terminated as well. WFM is a frequent target of such sting operations.

When the sting operation is run, the sting will look at cashiers and see which ones are not doing anything to check ids. These will be the lanes they chose to test.

So that cashier may have seen a friend lose their job or may be at a store where they have been fined and the management of that store is on the warpath. The real pity of this is all the energy put into stinging grocery stores when the bars running beer pong tournaments go unscathed. How many of them could pass an audit of their curstomers for being served while intoxicated? Why is it the small business' responsibility to enfore our liquor laws?

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No such luck. Just a really stupid cashier who was told to check id's to make sure wine and beer purchasers were over 21, so she asked to see everyone's driver's license.

My favorite down this line was when my father in law (he with the white hair) tried to buy a cup of anheuser swill, and got proofed at a Chuckie Cheese at his grandson's 4th birthday party.

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Is there some school for manager's of crappy restaurants that teaches them to say this?  It seems that they try to put the onus on the customer to rectify the problem instead of fixing it themselves.  When I had a truly horrible meal at the Tyson’s Legal Seafood where the waitress honored us with her presence just twice, once to take our order and then to give us the bill, when I spoke with the manager he asked “what would you like for me to do?”  My answer was, “oh be creative, find someway to make me happy after such a poor experience.”  He offered me desert, but would not take my uneaten entrée off the bill.

His regional manager did not agree with his decision, and credited my Visa for the dinner, and sent me a gift certificate.  He also thought that the question was inappropriate and that he should have offered a solution and not expect me to tell him what would make me happy.

It's not just restaurants. My brother and I stayed at a new Jameson Inn once. They say that if there's anything wrong, your room is free.

Well, I was waiting for an important call from the mrs. We made sure the phone was free. Hours after I should have gotten the call, I found out that she had tried calling several times but never got through to our room.

When we went to check out the next morning, my brother told the desk clerk that we didn't get an important call. The response was not, "Ok, then your room is free" but "What do you want me to do?" They probably think most people will be too cowed to ask for the room to be free. Not us. Free room. But we had to ask for it.

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I'm not going to name names here, because it's entirely possible the place had a seriously off night. But I just have to share the dining experience I had on Friday night at Restaurant X.

It was a comedy of errors that might have been funny had the food been any good. But that, too, was laughable in the worst possible way. At least we got to see a huge family with three, maybe four generations, come into the restaurant, the matriarchs decked out in floor-length fur coats! Awesome.

Anyway, we begin by ordering wine - a petite sirah, about which the server says, "The shiraz?" No, ma'am, the petite sirah. OK, she says. And then we tell her we're actually ready to order, at which point she begins fumbling her book and offers the first in an ongoing series of apologies.

No worries, really. We order. She disappears. A busboy drops off some bread. It's the best thing we'll eat all night.

The server swings by and apologizes that we don't have water yet.

She returns with the wine. "This is really good shiraz," she says as she begins to open the bottle without showing the label to us. It's obviously the correct wine, though. She pours it without a sniff test. Whatever, you think - it happens. Yeah, maybe. But the wine list suggests they should know better. (Then again, at one point, another server asks a nearby table: "Would you like any champagne or draught beer?" Interesting either/or. The Dom or the Stella. Hmmm.)

Anyway, as the waitress is pouring too much wine into our glasses, I ask her if the bread is made in-house. She says no. And then says that it sure looks good, but she wouldn't know because she's on a low-carb diet, and that means no bread, rice, pasta, etc.

You've heard of TGIFs? Well, this place is TMIFs! Please keep the details to yourself while I wolf down these carbs.

The entrees come. Ah, great!

Except ... we haven't had our starters yet. But fear not, because here those come, as well. The food runner who brings them is confused. He ain't the only one. We explain that the entrees came out early. He asks if we want the kitchen to keep the dishes warm. Eh, ok, sure, I guess, though that's kind of a scary proposition.

We begin eating the apps when the guy who'd brought the entrees comes over with our side order of parsnips. He quickly realizes that the order of our meal got screwed up. Duh. He promises that they'll fire fresh versions of the entrees. He has the air of authority, like he's a manager of some sort. This is good. He leaves the parsnips on the table. This is not good; we wanted them with the mains.

Our waitress comes by to apologize, like, three times.

We pick at the starters, which are just OK, and the plates are cleared, and our watiress apologizes again. And then the entrees come. Hmmmm. They look suspiciously similiar to the plates that came earlier. In fact, they are. The fish I'd ordered is lukewarm. Not only that, it's dry. But mostly, it's lukewarm.

So, I tell the waitress that it's too cold to eat, and tell her I want a do-over. Sorry, she says. She asks my friend about the temp of his dish, whose details I won't share because it would help identify the restaurant. Not so good, he says. So she aplogizes and grabs his plate, too, and as she's walking away, she says: "I'll have them reheat it." Ruh roh.

The plates come back, and it's like they've microwaved them or thrown them in the oven. They've reheated my friend's dish and haven't even bothered to swap out the remoulade, so the sauce now has a crust. The fish is piping hot, but it's also bone dry. I'd carved the thing into three sections earlier, for no particular reason, and they've now been pieced together like a puzzle. Comedy!

It's too dry, I tell the server. She apologizes yet again. I ask for lemon, though I'm pretty certain that nothing can save this poor, dead, dried fish. I also need a knife, I say. More apologies. Perhaps because the fish is now a brick, the server brings ... a steak knife. Classic.

Notable by his absence at this point is the manager-like guy. And, we note, there are no offers by our server to completely re-do the dishes, even though we're clearly not pleased with them.

In fact, we barely even put a dent in the entrees. Many more apologies ensue, to the point that we begin joking that the place should change its name. Maybe to Oops and Aahhs. Or Mea Culpa Cafe.

We order dessert. Also not very good. So as to avoid having a complete metabolic meltdown, I inhale some sugar, anyway.

The bill comes. Nothing from his disastrous dinner was comped. Not even one dessert. But hey, at least the valet parking was free!

Edited by jdl
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I'm not going to name names here, because it's entirely possible the place had a seriously off night. But I just have to share the dining experience I had on Friday night at Restaurant X.

Sounds like a terrible evening, but a great if sorry story.

Others here who have possibly been there will be able to confirm or deny if it was simply an off night. So, there's really no reason not to name the place.

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Others here who have possibly been there will be able to confirm or deny if it was simply an off night.  So, there's really no reason not to name the place.

Actually, I looked up the restaurant in the archives before I posted, to see if the place had a following here. But I didn't find much. So, I'd rather not name names.

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If you aren't willing to post the name, this is merely an amusing work of ficton or a diverting rant. Your suffering will have helped no one. :lol: You should take your shot.

Though, admittedly, both chefs who read DR and some of the members can get a little nasty when favorite oxen are gored. Let me show you some of the threads I've been on...

I'm guessing Auberge Chez Francoise, not because I've ever heard anything particularly bad about them, but because your tale seems like the kind of bad service specific to highly- (over-?) rated French places, and the venison and parsnips seem very "auberge-ish." The wine thing seems a little too multicultural for Auberge, though: seems like if they had any kind of Syrah on the list it would be in the form of a Chateauneuf-du-Pape and the whole Shiraz (Aussie)/Petite Syrah (Cali) battle would never have have been joined.

Tell us, though -- otherwise you won't have had any fun out of your dinner.

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If you aren't willing to post the name, this is merely an amusing work of ficton or a diverting rant.  Your suffering will have helped no one. :lol: You should take your shot.

Though, admittedly, both chefs who read DR and some of the members can get a little nasty when favorite oxen are gored. Let me show you some of the threads I've been on...

I'm guessing Auberge Chez Francoise, not because I've ever heard anything particularly bad about them, but because your tale seems like the kind of bad service specific to highly- (over-?) rated French places, and the venison and parsnips seem very "auberge-ish."  The wine thing seems a little too multicultural for Auberge, though: seems like if they had any kind of Syrah on the list it would be in the form of a Chateauneuf-du-Pape and the whole Shiraz (Aussie)/Petite Syrah (Cali) battle would never have have been joined.

Tell us, though -- otherwise you won't have had any fun out of your dinner.

Venison? Who said anything about venison?

Diner X and I actually had a lot of fun at the meal - and especially on the drive back to DC afterwards. Good times had by all. A good meal, though? Bzzzzt.

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Venison? Who said anything about venison?

Diner X and I actually had a lot of fun at the meal - and especially on the drive back to DC afterwards. Good times had by all. A good meal, though? Bzzzzt.

You are correct. I had no idea where the venison hallucination came from. I still think you should spill, though.

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