David Greggory in DC

I can take mediocre food but I hate it when a place pretends to be all that when it really isn't. Combine this with the rude service and you have an ideal restaurant for this particular post.

Trader Vic's at the Beverly Hills Hilton

Again, food may be good but if service sucks then the restaurant goes down as BAD in my book. Well the food actually sucked here as well haha. My food came out way too salty. When I told the waiter, they brought me another plate...but it was remade using the same dish but added more ingredients to tone down the saltiness. I'm not stupid so I told the manager. The manager couldn't hold down his personal anger and threw down a fork forcefully on the waiter's tray but missed and fell loudly onto the floor. Yeah I left and let the hotel know of my dissatisfaction. Unacceptable.


Fare Nui Restaurant at the Intercontinental Resort & Spa Moorea

No taste to the food. Zilch. Bland. ...though most food I ate in Moorea was similar. I somehow expected food to be great on this island... I did have a fantastic burger at this joint called Blue Cheesburger..think that's what it was called.

Makoto in DC

This sushi place was a total disappointment. Food was good but way overrated. I found the place to be a bit gimmicky with a pretension of being authentic.

Any restaurant in the Philippines that has its name written by hand, doesn't have a menu, has stools for chairs and where the food is cooked right in front of you.

These joints are called turo, turo, which literally translates to point, point. Since they have no menus, you basically point to the food you want to order... which are often in huge pots in front of you. Locals love it... our stomachs on the other hand, won't be able to handle it.

I've noticed that the bread and butter is quite regularly the best part of my dining experience as expensive resteraunts...

Call me hoy paloy, but just like wine, the the price increase after a certain point really does not corrospond to any increase in deliciousness of the food.

Il Desco has stunning food in addition to big theatre and an incredible dining room (as long as you in the one on the left as you come in). Agreed it is expensive but the quality of the preparation and food easily merits the 2 Michelin stars and the cost. We have been there 3 times in the last 2 years and are about to go again - I expect the usual mix of about 2/3 local and 1/3 tourists.
Don't be put off by Vienna Resident!

Wong Kei in London Chinatown, definately avoid. Having been to LON for business many times, this is definately one of the cities very difficult to find descent chinese cuisine for myself who is a native HKer. When visiting here I prefer to dine myself at the trobadour cafe.

Urmmm, don't really agree with your statement. IMO London has better chinese restaurants than YVR or NYC. (I am also a native HKer)

Agree that Wong Kei is not that good, but really there are so many good chinese restaurants around London. You just need to look carefully. I noted that u did comment that you don't like Yauatcha, but my recent experience there is really good.

Indian cuisine restaurants, I have not found a good one anywhere. The bread is usually good but the food taste like dirty dish water swells.

Perhaps you could list the restaurants and cities you've had Indian food in a restaurant?

I would also be interested where you ate/drank dirty dish water swells !!

Anything in the Skytower, Auckland (except Peter Gordon's Dine in the next door hotel). Overpriced and terrible service, but of course - great views.

One terrific item Legal has is FRESH, RESTAURANT MADE clam strips. Juicy, tender and sooo damn good.
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good but VERY VERY Expensive, one can dine two-three times at a “normal” Korean restaurant with just as good/better quality as Woo Lae Oak (which is a chain). Now that I’ve found normal/non-upscale Korean restaurants, I can’t justify spending the $$ for Woo Lae Oak. That said, it is a wonderful place to send people who have not had Korean food to as it is not as intimidating and is also more upscale than the cheapo excellent Korean places.


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My worst resturant is a little different. It is Charlie Trotters in downtwon chicago. I know it is supposed to be one of the best resturants in the world but if you have ever eaten there you will no what I mean. I am a big guy and I like food. I like a lot of it too. CT has great food in the smallest portions in the world. I took my wife out for V-Day and we had to stop off for dinner on the way home and my wife is only 115 pounds and 5'6. dinner is a preset menue so you get what they feel like giving you. Dinner and some wine was $650.00. The service was great but then again if I was a waiter making 90k a year I would be all over it too.

Maybe not the best question for a thread on restaurants to avoid, but what is your recommended counterpoint to Woo Lae Oak? What's the best cheap hole-in-the-wall Korean place in the DC area that's clean, fresh and tasty and good value for the money?

Worst chain restaurant - well, there are so many, but my vote has to go to Outback. Someone mentioned a "cup of salt" in every Macaroni Grille item. You can double that for outback. I'm not salt adverse, but everything at Outback on multiple trips was so salty that I couldn't eat it. Even the SALAD was salty.

Worst local restaurant - Bistro 100 in Chicago (well, it is part of a small Chicago group, but still qualifies as local). Trip 1 - so bad in every respect that we wrote the management. To their credit they issued a large credit toward a return trip. We went and received the VIP treatment. Service improved immeasurably, but you can't hide bad food. Nothing good to say about this place at all.

Oh - let me add a vote for Emeril. Emeril's in NO was a disaster. We were seated in the room with the wine coolers, with my back to them. Everytime someone tripped over me to open the door I got hit with a wave of mustiness - Yes, I know its humid there, but must in a wine cellar is NOT a good thing. This summer I was forced to go to NOLA, and actually had a decent meal, much to my amazement. Emeril seemed to have his staff fairly well trained, something that is not typically true in NO at this point in time.

Can't help you with DC as not my backyard and I don't get there often, but I imagine Korean spots are there if you look.

A good place to start might be Tyler Cowen's ethnic DC area food guide, here are his Korean picks:

http://www.tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com/korean/

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Thank you...excellent resource for all kinds of cuisines