Monday, October 3, 2011

I shaved my legs for this?

On a recommendation, we went to the Notchland Inn in Hart's Location NH for dinner last night. I'm sure the person who recommended the place had a good experience there. I however, did not.
I have a hard time dining out. We live in a rural area. Being veg, I don't set very high expectations. Sometimes, I even eat before going out.

This time, I was expecting better. When we called for reservations, the owner of the inn asked my husband some very specific dietary questions. It sounded like they knew how to make a vegetarian meal.
When we arrived, we were told the vegetarian meal was a delicata squash stuffed with quinoa, etc. It seemed promising.
First we got some bland bread, followed by some mushroom soup. The soup was good, but there was not nearly enough of it. Then came the meal. Bland, and worse than that, not cooked properly. Quinoa is not supposed to be as crunchy as this was. I figured they'd ask about it when they saw the entree uneaten on the plate. Nope. They came, took the plate, and that was that. No "how was the meal?" or anything like that. The salad and dessert were barely worth mentioning. I ate the tiny salad, but the dessert was a disappointment.
I suppose I could have said something, but I have this defect when it comes to food. If I'm paying money for it, and it's unacceptable, I cry. It's embarrassing. I literally cry. So, rather than point out the inadequacy of the meal and start bawling in front of a dining room full of people, I kept my mouth shut until we got in the car. Yeah. I cried to my husband over undercooked quinoa. Well, I think it was over the money spent on the undercooked quinoa, and that this was not the first time a "fine dining"establishment royally screwed up vegetarian food for me. And I was hungry. And we had a sitter. And it was date night.

Some highlights from the evening:
It was dark and rainy, and we had a hard time figuring out what this was when we drove up. It turns out, they did a bride and groom pumpkin people display as part of a local business competition.
It was downright creepy.

At least the wine was good.

This Saint Bernard came over to see us during dinner. He made himself comfy by my side.

 Oh, did I mention? The meal cost well over $100. 
When we got home, I made myself a sandwich. 

4 comments:

  1. Glad you named names. Cooking a good veggie meal isn't magic. You manage it every day. Sorry your date night gave you reason to cry.

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  2. I am SO sorry it sucked. I had heard some poor reviews...
    We should totally get dressed up and cook our own gourmet meal soon.

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  3. Maria, I was thinking that as well. For the amount we spend dining out, we can do far better at home!

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  4. I'm in! You guys have a lot to teach me about dietary creativity!

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