Arcadia is located in the Marriott in downtown San Jose. It is a Michael Mina restaurant. As we have eaten in several Michael Mina restaurants - Aqua and Michael Mina in SF, Michael Mina in LAS - and always had excellent/outstanding meals, this seemed like a logical choice, since we had tickets to a show at the Performing Arts Center right across the street.

Forget it. While there was nothing really wrong, the whole meal was totally ordinary, from salads to entrees to desserts. With several excellent restaurants in downtown SJ, there is just no reason to pay Michael Mina prices for standard food.

Jimmy's Kitchen in HK is very good.

The Colony in the Hyatt, Waikiki. Completely uninspired, badly cooked, and simply not fresh food. How can you not have fresh pineapple in Hawaii? I should have gone to Ruth Chris.

When I was in Hawaii 14 years ago and longing for a fresh pineapple, I was informed that most pineapple production has shifted overseas to places such as the Philippines and that, for the most part, pineapples are not grown in Hawaii any more.

Really? Actually, strange as it may seem, I believe China is the biggest producer of pineapples in the world. However, most of the pineapples eaten in the U.S. (including Hawaii) are indeed grown in Hawaii.

I do not know for sure.

I am simply relating what was told to me at a former pineapple plantation by a guide while on its tour.

Not to dispute what you were told, but the Dole Plantation is not a former pineapple plantation.

Good luck finding a Hawaiian pineapple on the mainland. We were told that the import costs are too high, so everything I find here is from Costa Rica.

Haha... the restaurant on Kiz Kulesi is 100% tourist trap... I feel bad for you...

When driving around southern Maine, there are plenty of billboards advertising double lobster dinners at very attractive prices. Avoid them, regardless of how cheap.

I think it's a mixed bag - some of the good places advertise, but it's best to do homework in advance and select a lobster spot based on Yelp (or similar). We had incredible lobster rolls at 'Reds' and great lobster dinners at a dockside shack near Portland (whose name I can't recall).

Agreed. Considering the US as a whole, I suspect that Hawaii ranks several rungs down the list as the source of "store bought" pineapple.

Mexico would be first in this part of the US, Costa Rica ranking high, and places like Ecuador on the list.

Mesh at The Crown Casino in Melbourne. The most incredibly mediocre buffet I've ever had at a casino setting but the worst part was seeing the metal frozen yogurt dispenser at the dessert area. Not what you expect when paying 40 Australian dollars per person for.

The Old Spaghetti Factory in Phoenix, AZ. It's the place I left my smallest ever tip.

I'd been twice for lunch and each time had been ok at best with poor service and mediocre food. About 18 months ago I went with my then girlfriend (this may be why she left me) and the experience was terrible.

The waiter took a long time to serve us.
He forgot drink orders
When my food arrived it was cold. Not just cool but absolutely cold
My girlfriend's order was wrong
We had to ask for silverware
Every time he came over he stared down my girlfriend's shirt
The aforementioned food was terrible
When the bill finally came he threw it on the table and walked away and didn't leave me with a pen to sign it with.

The check was $24.31...I left $25.

That's about $25 more than I would have left (and would have called for the manager long before the check "arrived").

I don't understand most of my fellow countrymen, and their unwillingness to "create a scene" in the face of bad food and bad service. Management certainly doesn't want the other diners to see and hear the plaintive wails of a really dissatisfied customer standing up for his principles that bad food, bad service or a combo thereof is essentially a violation of the "contract of carriage"..

Will a manager call the police? I actually had one once start to do so, then at the encouragement of some of the staff, desist. Obviously, threatened with arrest, I guess I would have paid, but surely would have made a scene.

I rarely attempt it, a dozen or so times in memory, but only that once did I ever face the threat of a legal challenge. Why are a people quick to take back clothing, return gift items, and claim refunds buffaloed similar tactics in the face of an unsatisfactory dinner. It's far better thing to alert management than to simply "cut" your tip. After 5 years of writing resturant reviews for a "medium circulation" newspaper (back in the early 80s) anda fair amount of domestic and foreign travel, I'm appalled at what we "Merkins" routinely put up with, not only abroad but at home, and often in "upscale" restaurants.