We've run several contests asking diners to share their Denver Restaurant Week stories, and our last prize goes to Harvey, for this plaintive report of his DRW experiences:
Never. Again. Even if I win this contest, I won't be using it during Restaurant Week. I'm never going out during this time again. Ever.I regularly dine at a number of local restaurants that participate in Restaurant Week. I'm not going to throw them under the bus for what's happened this past "promotion", and I'll give them one more chance...after Restaurant Week.
One place, whose owner's name rhymes with Fontano, has recently hired chefs straight from the salt mine. That's the only conclusion that I could come to for the pucker-inducing liquids (that's right, liquids!), that passed down my gullet at one of his restaurants. I would have cried if I could've produced tears, but every molecule of moisture was drawn to my mouth and digestive tract to deal with it.
At another place, a "gastropub," it was early and empty, so no excuses. Order messed up, food cold, a whiff of fishyness. It was just bad.
We didn't order off of the Restaurant Week menu. Maybe that was the problem. But Christ, COME ON, don't phone it in on the other dishes just to focus on one-time customers looking for a deal. I can appreciate the fact that you want to impress first-time diners to maybe bring them in as regulars, but if it means sacrificing the reputation you've built over the other 50 weeks is it really worth it?
That being said. I love you. I'll be back next month. But if you hurt me again, I'm gone, gone, gone.
Harvey, e-mail [email protected] with your contact info, and let us know if you'd rather have a gift certificate to Mataam Fez or Ocean Prime -- and the good news is that either one will work after DRW ends.
