Worst Meals 2007 -SF edition
There was a thread last year on the CA boards with this same title but in San Diego. A recent meal at the Vinyards Inn or Rte 12 in between Glen Ellen and Santa Rosa - spurred and reminded me of this question. So feel free to add if an experience was particularly bad and you wish to save Chowhounds some time and hard earned income.
My experience Vinyards Inn may have been a fluke - but I dont think so. The place was packed and prices were very high for hospital cafeteria furnishings, cold (hot) tea, being pestered and outnumbered by busboys wanting to clear unfinished food ("still working on that" ).
They bill themselves as Spanish cuisine - but they couldnt be more further removed. I was kind of taken aback by the jeans and dirty tshirt "host" or bar tender as well.
>The chorizo on the bocadillos tasted very "aged" top which they messily tried to hide this with copious applications of ailoli.
>I have had better calamari at Longjohn Silver's were at least it was hot and didn't reming me too much of rubber tires.
> Your salad comes topped with a dollop of cold partially refried black beans...huh? We both ordered "dijon" dressing - which I recieved and partner got ranch.
>Grilled Artichoke was probably grilled yesterday or that morning.
> Its scary when they have ono on the menu and the soup of the day is an ono chowder.
> Pork adobo had more peppercorns and salt than actual meat.
> H
I had the pollo aijllo - which was not bad -a but its hard to screw up chicken soused in butter and wine and parsely. Go for this if you have to eat here - but avoid it at all other costs.
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kare_raisu
Dec 06, 2007 10:43AM
I like the topic, but I'll have to think for a bit about the real losers of the year. I can start with this: last night we ordered some Indian delivery from Zante's b/c Spicy Bite and the new India Oven were already closed. We were a bit tipsy, and even still it was bad! Super greasy, so greasy that the oil leaked through the foil wrapped containers and congealed in an enormous oil puddle on the coffee table. The CTM had about 4 chunks of dried out white meat in it. I know Zante's isn't top notch or anything, but I thought it would be a reasonable tipsy CTM delivery fix. Unfortunately, not so.
I remembered when it was too late that Al Hamara probably would have been better for the Mission/Bernal late night Indian delivery fix.
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I don't know how late they're open, but for Indian food delivered to the Mission area, I recommend Bombay Indian.
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what i find most ironic about zantes is that their indian food is awful, and their western style pizza is awful, but their indian pizza is great!
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I try not to remember bad meals, put them behind me or rack them up to the averages. Also, bad/worst is relative to expectations, price and a bunch of other factors, i.e., higher expectations and price -- high potential for a bad meal experience.
Thinking back for '07, nothing stands out but I will say the two most disappointing meals were Breads of India and Harry's Hofbrau. (see what I mean by relative)
At Breads of India I had the Coorgi roast pork. I was looking forward to it since I've never heard of pork at an India restaurant and BOI usually gets solid reviews. Any way the pork turned out to be over-cooked, dry and perhaps over-marinated (protein fiber seemed to be broken down too much). OTOH, the breads were very, very good and for $12 bucks what am I going to say? It was however enough of a dissapointment that I don't think I'll return to BOI.
Harry's Hofbrau...again relative. I shouldn't have expected anything from Harry's Hofbrau and really wasn't except for a competent meal. Basically the carved items (roast beef) weren't bad at all but the canned gravy and weird mashed potatoes were way off...un-edible. I've never been to Harry's before but I'm going to rack this up to "you should have known better" and should have expected the worst.
In relative terms, these were inexpensive meals so I wasn't too bent. If I paid $50 p/p, had the same results, that would be another story.
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I know it's a chain, but mine was a few days ago at On the Border in Milpitas. Read my cautionary tale so you don't make the same mistake.
The whole menu seems like it was created by someone who hates Mexican food. It was like, "How can we take Mexican food and ruin it by adding things that are lowbrow and high in fat that Americans love?" And the other person in marketing said, "I know! Let's add cheap-tasting cheddar/American cheese to everything!"
This place gave me a newfound appreciation for Chevys.
Two good things about On the Border:
Service was fine.
Kahlua ice cream cake was decent (though icy and the chocolate sauce tasted like Hershey's syrup).
And then there was the rest of my visit. The food was appalling. I reserve 1 star reviews for inedible. This qualified.
My 3-item combo was terrible.
Chicken Enchilada - It was smothered in cheese and cream sauce. I took one bite and was so disgusted I didn't touch it again.
Pork Tamale - I took 3 bites total. Not good.
Empanadas - These were the highlight of my combo plate which isn't saying much. The best part was the crust. The filling on the other hand consisted of chicken and what I think was a cheddar/American cheese sauce. This was served with a dipping ramekin of more cheddar/American cheese sauce. That seems like an idea cooked up by someone who knows nothing about Mexican food.
I felt like that was $12 down the toilet. Literally.
The husband ordered the steak fajitas since the picture of them on the menu (a perfect medium, nice cut of meat) looked yummy. Well, that picture looked nothing like what arrived on his plate. It was a very cheap cut of meat. So cheap some pieces were unidentifiable as beef, like they could've been chicken or pork. And they charged $15 for it.
The husband liked the salsa, but I would give it a 2 out of 5 stars. The chips were huge, like eating a big piece of fried tortilla shell.
I was still hungry (since I could only eat 1 item of my 3-item combo) so we got the Kahlua ice cream pie. The husband proclaimed upon leaving, "Well that was the most unhealthy meal I've had in a long time."
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Aaaahhhh...I had put it out of my mind. We ate at an On the Border in Elk Grove when there on business. It was some of the worst food I have ever had. Couldn't even make decent refried beans. They serve entirely too much food and it was virtually inedible. I'd go to McD's over that place any time. I shudder at the memory! But you are right about the service! Didn't have dessert so there was only one good thing about our meal!
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Sorry you had to take the hit on that one.... I was always mesmerized by its self touting "Fine Mexican & Spanish Cuisine" but as we had agreed.... the place radiated terrible vibes.
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Rib Shack in San Bruno is one of the worst for me. I tried it only because they touted their new ownership. It wasn't nauseating or awful, just awfully bland. It was so nondescript that I was glad when I was finished. It was like eating with such a bad cold that the taste buds were shut down.
The other bad one is O Sole Mio in Millbrae. They're such hacks that they can't even make a decent cheese pizza. Almost any frozen pizza would be a huge improvement over their dreck. Chef Boyardee is a better choice, enough said.
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I used to live in Millbrae. Yeah, about the only good thing at O Sole Mio is their bread.
We tried to go to the Rib Shack once and thankfully it was closed. Jatbar claims their ribs taste like prime rib but since I hadn't seen any Chowhound reports about it I had my doubts.
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