Most Overrated Restaurant
 

IMHO, Tavern on the green...went there before joining FT and was HIGHLY disappointed!
Glad they are putting this dump out of it's misery!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091230/...n_on_the_green

There are several others I can think of...but this one takes the cake for me...how about you?

The Fat Duck, Bray, in the UK where celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal has long since disappeared up his own food processor.
If they gave stars for pretentiousness this would win all of them.

Agree. We went while on our honeymoon. Overpriced, horrid service, bad food. Was our first intro to NYC. Thankfully, the visit got better from there.

Agree? You do realize it was ME who posted this, right?;)

It wasn't our honey honeymoon, but it was our first trip as a couple to NYC...thankfully we only had appetizers and cocktails...and that was more than enough!

OOOFFFFFF
:eek:

I did not know that TOTG was ever that highly rated.

But, then again, I have never been there, and I don't think I know anyone who's ever been.

Well, I already panned it in the New England forum, but it deserves another shot...Sel de la Terre in Boston. Average boullabaise in a seafood mecca, average service on a Saturday night in a two-thirds full restaurant during one of the worst recessions in decades.

If you're really the "hot new place" in town and have the crowd to flaunt it, good on ya. 9:00PM on a Saturday and "Moon River" coming through the PA would fit the ambience? Work a little harder to "wow" me....

Joe's Stone Crab in Miami Beach.

Actually, for those who like them, Joe's does have good quality stone crabs (they have deals with good suppliers). But the prices are wildly over-inflated, and the give-the-maitre'd-an exorbitant-tip scam at the front podium speaks for itself. And also, other area restaurants have similar quality stone crabs and don't treat you like dirt if you are not a sports celebrity or a politician.

One day around this time of year 10 years ago, my father, Mrs. Pickles, and I were walking around South Miami Beach, pretty much everything closed, looking for a place to eat. We come upon Joe's, had no idea what it was at the time. We walk in, probably close to 3:00 PM. We mosey up to the Maitre D' table, and get seated right away. We had a wonderful, memorable, albeit expensive meal. But just the surprise factor of running into this run-down shack opening into a very classy and unusual old-school restaurant with great seafood was enough to make an impression.

Afterwards, we told people we knew that we had eaten at this place "Joe's" and their first questions were "did you get in?" or "how long did you have to wait?" They couldn't believe we just walked in at the low point of the day with impeccable timing.

There are several restaurants on the Miami River that get the crab well before Joe's fresh off the boat every morning. ^

When I tried to get there in Dec the roads were closed and torn up, I sure hope the markets/bars there on the river stay in business.

While this thread is certainly fine for OMNI, we do have a forum where it is perhaps more topical.

And the upside is that you also get post credit for adding to it. :)

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Cholula
OMNI Co-Moderator

Went there once about 30 years ago and never went back in spite of living almost next door to it for many years. Awful food and service, but the lights and chandeliers were beautiful.

any Ruth's Chris :td:

+1 :-:

Any place that puts BUTTER on a steak needs to get sent on a trip to hades, ohhh wait they just did that to the steak!
I can't believe people like it so much, it is also near impossible to get a RARE or blue steak, that platter is just too hot and by the time you are ready to eat it is well done.

Le Bec Fin in Philly. The menu needs some serious updating, and the service has really gone downhill.

French Laundry ...yeah, I know everyone loves it but me. :)

Back in the 80s my company held one of its annual holiday parties at TOTG. The place was highly entertaining in its over-the-top decor and general pretensions. The hors d'oeuvres were plentiful and tasty but hardly exquisite. It's hard to remember the food because the visuals were so distracting.

OT: the best part of the evening was, as we were leaving, spotting a publicist and a salesman locked in a clinch in a doorway across the street (having heard about office party bad behavior but never actually observed it).

TOTG was IMO just another part of tourist New York, having little to do with what locals frequent(ed).

Charlie Trotter's, Chicago

Hit and miss cuisine but severely uninspired and flawed service and overall experience. The most breathtaking and memorable part of the evening was the bill at the end.

Not everyone. I've never been but my best friends went and were thoroughly underwhelmed. I refuse to return to Bouchon in the Venetian in Vegas, another one of Keller's restaurants, due to terrible service and really poorly executed food on a previous visit.

Keller was here for a book signing recently and my friend and I were going to go stand in line so she could tell him FL sucked, and I could ask for my money back from Bouchon. We couldn't be bothered in the end and went for a curry instead.

Another of those celebrity chefs who restaurants have not impressed us is Bradley Ogden. We have been to two of his places - Parcel 104 in Santa Clara and the new Root 246 in Solvang. There was nothing really wrong with either of them, but the combination of the hype and prices suggest one is going to get a very special meal. That was definitely not the case in either place.

I've also just remembered a whole whack load in London, oddly mostly italian:

Cecconi's
Scalini
Locanda Locatelli
Gordon Ramsay, Royal Hospital Road
any F&B outlet at the old Savoy Hotel

Yep! it's OK but that's about it.

Porcao churrascaria in Rio de Janeiro. Despite the good reviews had tourist trap written all over it.

And Rules. Tossup which of food, service or maitre d' attitude was the worst attribute but all were poor.

I was underwhelmed at Delmonico's in LV, as well as Emeril's in NO.

Cabana las Lilas in EZE :td:

Nobu
Gordon Ramsay at Claridges (but I really liked Royal Hospital Road one)

If your'e looking for good stone crabs at a decent price-- try Billy's in Ft Lauderdale. Great food, on the intra costal at a much cheaper price-- and only about 30 min north @

I havent been there but my wife is more discerning than I and she was really underwhelmed by Nobu in NY. Incredibly disappointed. I didnt think Rules was over rated I guess because I wasnt expecting it to be that good and it actually wasnt a disappointment then. Clearly not in the category of places like the Ivy, St. John or the fish place by the Ivy folks that I am drawing a blank on the name of.

Per Se - too long, too much, too expensive, too snobby

Union Oyster House, Boston

The one I went to was in London and my impressions were exactly the same as your wife's. I did not think it deserved the Michelin star it had. It was frankly no better than an average bento you can get from a run-of-the mill cheap Japanese restaurant and service was pretty poor too.

Liked TFL. Bouchon - not; it's nowhere close to the food at TFL, btw.

That's the part I like about their steak. I always ask for extra butter.

99% of all steakhouses in the US. I'm tempted to say 100%.

Corollary 1: 99% of all "sushi" restaurants in the US are overrated.

Any MacDonalds, anywhere.

How is it possible for a McDonalds to be over rated? ;)

We went to Bouchon in Yountville last October when we couldn't get off the French Laundry waitlist, and were quite unimpressed. The service and the ambiance were nice, but the food was unremarkable.

+1

I went there in Raleigh and it was a horrible experience. I wrote a scathing review on CitySearch. A year later, CitySearch pulled the review stating:

The review was completely factual, and I suspect that the restaurant was advertising on CitySearch and had CitySearch pull the review to boost their ratings. I wrote to CitySearch asking how exactly my review "violated" their guidelines, and they never wrote back.

Based on this experience, I'm certain that CitySearch regularly deletes critical ratings without cause based on pressure from the restaurants. Which is why I no longer trust CitySearch ratings.

+1
This was a great restaurant ~15 years ago- went back this year and was embarassed that I had brought my colleagues to it- could not apologize enough! Credit to the conceirge who attempted to talk me out of it...