Restaurant Week is back

[brennser]

every year I go to Gallileo

now theres a restaurant I truly despise - I will never darken its door again

[walkman]

Originally posted by chaz:
  Avoid Mie n Yu in Georgetown.  Biggest waste of money ever.  Good thing it wasn't my $$.    

just stop in to use the loo

[joz]

cashion's is excellent...for sushi, i'm partial to sushi-ko on wisconsin ave.  
 
 if you're even considering bistro bis for RW, think again...it was one of the lousiest dining experiences i've ever had.  bad service. even worse food.

[Celeste]

Originally posted by Samantha:
  what's the best Sushi place in the area?

I like Cafe Asia...the one in Rosslyn has a silly/fun japanimation kind of vibe, and the one on Eye street maybe even more so, but it's less charming...these places are casual and fun and not overpriced!

[Celeste]

Originally posted by chimbly sweep:
  Sorry, have to add my $.02 about restaurant week... Sure, it's an affordable way to get to some restaurants, but is it worth it?  The places are packed, the service gets spread too thin, the menu options are limited and rarely veggie-friendly, and the food is mass-produced without fail...

I'd have to agree...unless you're willing to eat fish...you're almost out of luck completely...I think most restos are severely overpriced and below quality...and I'm talking about the nice places work pays for...

[brennser]

yikes - Cafe Asia is cheap and I like their other food but their sushi is just not that good, or at least their happy hour $1 a piece sushi is not good, sliced so thin you can read the paper thru it
 
 

Originally posted by Celeste:
   

Originally posted by Samantha:
  what's the best Sushi place in the area?

I like Cafe Asia...the one in Rosslyn has a silly/fun japanimation kind of vibe, and the one on Eye street maybe even more so, but it's less charming...these places are casual and fun and not overpriced! [/b]

[ggw]

I like Cafe Asia in general, but I think their sushi is pretty blah.  
 
 Tachibana in Mclean is excellent -- especially the spicy scallop roll and the bluefin with jalapeno.  They are also great about making any sushi you want, whether it's on the menu or not.
 
 

Originally posted by Celeste:
   

Originally posted by Samantha:
  what's the best Sushi place in the area?

I like Cafe Asia...the one in Rosslyn has a silly/fun japanimation kind of vibe, and the one on Eye street maybe even more so, but it's less charming...these places are casual and fun and not overpriced! [/b]

[jkeisenh]

Originally posted by Bagalicious Tangster:
  I tend to go to lunches more than dinners, but have not experienced a problem yet.  Butterfield 9 was fabulous last year...

I went to B9 for lunch during the Jan '03 RW.  What an experience.  I was with three Black co-workers.  Our table was seated upstairs next to the kitchen-- walking past many nicer tables that were available.  When we asked for a different table, they said they were "taken."  We looked around and noticed that the only Black people in the restaurant were seated upstairs toward the back.  The entire ground floor didn't have a single Black person at a table.
 
 Then we received shitty service, even though the servers all had to walk past our table everytime they went to the kitchen.
 
 Was it a coincidence?  Could have been.  But it still pissed me off, alot.

[ggw]

Unfortunately, conventional wisdom among restaurant staff is that black people are crappy tippers.  This leads to a vicious circle, whereby black people get shitty service because servers assume a crappy tip is forthcoming. Then, having received bad service, a crappy tip is warranted, which just reinforces this whole cycle.

[mankie]

Civilized societies should've stopped eating sushi the day fire was invented.
 
 That's bad about putting all the black patrons upstairs, but I was told a story by a friend who worked as a hostess when she was much younger....the restaurant had three small rooms and each room had two waitstaff. She was told to put the first customers in room one, second in room two, third in room three, fourth in room one fifth in room two, sixth in room three etc etc. This was so everyone could be waited on equally and the waitstaff in one room wouldn't be run off their feet while another room would be sat empty....anyway, what happened was that every third set of customers just happened to be black so they all ended up in the same room and it caused a problem because they obviously assumed they were being shoved in the same room together.

[Celeste]

Originally posted by brennser:
  yikes - Cafe Asia is cheap and I like their other food but their sushi is just not that good, or at least their happy hour $1 a piece sushi is not good, sliced so thin you can read the paper thru it

I just get the maki so the "sliced thin" part doesn't apply to my choices...I can't speak for the other kind at all!

[Celeste]

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
  Unfortunately, conventional wisdom among restaurant staff is that black people are crappy tippers.  This leads to a vicious circle, whereby black people get shitty service because servers assume a crappy tip is forthcoming. Then, having received bad service, a crappy tip is warranted, which just reinforces this whole cycle.

When I waited tables, I always gave black people extra good service just to make sure they'd have no reason to chintz out on the tip, and I'm sorry to report that they did anyway, most of the time.
 
 Doesn't mean they're inferior or bad people, but I would categorically say they're not the best tippers out there... and there never seems to be enough alcohol in the foofie frozen drinks they order.

[mankie]

I wonder if black folk just give lousy tips to white waitstaff?

[Random Citizen]

Originally posted by Bollocks:
  I wonder if black folk just give lousy tips to white waitstaff?

Nice generalization there. I'm a great tipper. I've never worked in the restaurant industry, but know they make crap salaries, so I try to give them the benefit of the doubt. If the service is good, I'll usually tip at least 25%, if it's great, it's more than that.
 
 I went to Heritage India with a white colleague of mine a few months back. She was pretty rude to the waitstaff and made quite a mess on the tablecloth. The tab came to about $32 and we both put down $20 bills. I left it at that, but she insisted we wait for change.   :eek:  Sure enough, she took back a few dollars and wanted to leave them a $5 tip.
 
 As we got up to leave, I said I needed to use the restroom and I'd meet her outside. I faked for the back and then came back around and slid another $5 in the receipt sleeve.

[mankie]

Originally posted by Random Citizen:
   

Originally posted by Bollocks:
  I wonder if black folk just give lousy tips to white waitstaff?

Nice generalization there. I'm a great tipper. I've never worked in the restaurant industry, but know they make crap salaries, so I try to give them the benefit of the doubt. If the service is good, I'll usually tip at least 25%, if it's great, it's more than that.
 
 I went to Heritage India with a white colleague of mine a few months back. She was pretty rude to the waitstaff and made quite a mess on the tablecloth. The tab came to about $32 and we both put down $20 bills. I left it at that, but she insisted we wait for change.      Well, he would rather wait for a black sales counselor to become available rather than have a white one make a commission off him...AND THOSE WERE HIS EXACT WORDS!