KetWatters's Profile
Very poor dinner in Albany
I literally had the WORST meal last night at Rendez-vous in Albany.. I ordered the rack of lamb which had 2 pieces of lamb laying on top of cups of lentils and maybe 5 baby leaves of spinach floating on top of the lentils and 2 pieces of ½” of asparagus with some broken pieces of toasted walnut surrounding the edge of the dish. The lamb was cooked right but had no taste. Somehow it didn’t even taste like lamb.
My husband had a hamburger ($10). There were minimal condiments, no pickle, limp lettuce, no tomato. The fries were supposed to be “herbed”, but were limp and tasteless until drenched with ketchup. He would have been better off at Barney’s just up the street.
After the meal the wait person asked if we wanted dessert and we said yes. He then disappeared never even to walk close to our table again. We waited 15 -20 minutes and finally asked for our check instead. Our water glasses were never refilled and our wine was never poured by them. While taking our money he asked how was our dinner but did not wait on our response. The service was unbelievably bad. At the very, very least, we should have been given 2nd glass of water. Poor service!!
There are too many good restaurants in this area for this one to survive, but there was a line of people waiting to get in. Maybe we missed something??!!
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Rendez-Vous Cafe Bistro
1111 Solano Ave, Albany, CA 94706
Zihuatanejo Sojourn
We just spent 9 days in Zihua and loved every minute. The occassion was our son's wedding.
We were disappointed in Kau Kan, especially the service. The waiter refilled the wife's water glass with wine (on top of a slice of lime) and didn't offer to replace the wine or the water. The bill had to be renegotiated 3 times to get it right. The food was decent, but over-priced. We had our wedding rehearsal dinner at La Perla. They had promised a buffet and an open bar. They served a plate with dried up fish and a piece of chicken and the bar ran out of their special coconut drink. Fortunately, the setting and friends allowed us to ignore the food and service. Unfortunately we still had to pay for it. Two places we really did enjoy (went to each twice). La Gula in La Madera is the best restaurant we ate in during our stay. The food was great (especially cazuela de cebolla--white onion soup with dark beer--and pesce soleado. The staff makes you feel that you are a guest in their house. In El Centro Zihua we loved a restaurant with a long name that is shortened to "Any" (rhymes with Annie). Great for breakfast or lunch. Again the food and service were "at home" excellent.
Paso Robles First Visit: Some Comments
Recently visited Paso Robles for our anniversary. We did a chowhound search prior to going...thanks for all the good info. We had our anniversary dinner at Villa Creek and were frankly disappointed. Wife's sea bass was OK, but vegetables were undercooked (even for someone who normally likes al dente); my blackened bison rib eye was overcooked and tough, although the flavor was good. My veggies were soggy. It took about 20 minutes between appetizer and serving the entree even though the restaurant was less than half full. Also, I ordered a sparkling water that was never delivered. I commented on this experience to one of the winery owners and she said Villa Creek can be variable in quality and service. Next night's dinner was at Ian McPhee's in Templeton. This meal was great. The waitress was very friendly and efficient. The wine she recommended was perfect (McMurrays Pino Gris). They pushed all my right buttons (e.g.: pepper grinder, olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the table; a good mixture of breads: walnut, olive, sour, etc.) The entrees (scallops for my wife, pork ribs done in an apricot-based sauce for myself) were creative and well balanced. An added service: I left my good leather hat at the restaurant. I telephoned after I got home and they took my address and shipped my hat to me (only charged me for shipping charges).
As to wineries: agree with other postings that Linne Calodo wines are excellent. However we both felt they were over priced. There are Zins available of comparable if not better quality but cheaper than their zin blends. A discovery was Red Soles Winery, just down the hill from Linne Calodo. I don't see any mentions of them on Chowhound (they only started pouring this year). All of their wines were good and only run about $25. The hotel we stayed at ( a new, but run-of-the-mill La Quinta) had a special deal with EOS so we stopped there. We agree with most of the other postings that this is one to avoid (their Zin Port is the only thing we found good). Eberle, on the other hand we really enjoyed. The cleverly named Up Shiraz was good but we bought the Steinbeck Vineyard Syrah. Clautiere was OK but not worth the effort given the others available. Likewise, Robert Hall was good, but not very exciting. Finally Maloy O'Neill has an excellent selection of very drinkable wines at reasonable prices.
