We have been very lucky as the list of worst dishes is not that long. To be listed as the worst, the dish had to be executed poorly. This was not a matter of personal preference, but rather a very, badly prepared dish.
Sonny Mcleans – Santa Monica
Fried Clams – these don’t look horrible but take a look up close
This was all breading – the clam is on the far right – smaller than one joint of your little finger
Real Fried Clams with the bellies – Neptune’s Oyster – Boston
The Lobster – Santa Monica
Lobster Roll – Where oh where is the lobster? This should have been called a Mayo Roll.
A Real Lobster Roll – Neptune’s Oyster – Boston
Santa Monica Seafood
New England Clam Chowder – absolutely horrid and inedible – tasted like tin. This should never have been served and if a cook tasted it, I have questions about the tasting ability of the cook. I was going to buy a quart to bring home – I wouldn’t have bought one teaspoonful. My husband complained and they did take this off the bill.
Craft Bar – Century City
Calamari and White Anchovy – the white anchovy was a tapenade and basically added little or no flavor. The calamari was tough, chewy and basically inedible.
La Cachette – Santa Monica
Lightly creamed lobster and blue crab bisque – completely tasteless – one taste only. To the restaurant’s credit, this was taken off the bill.
Ariadne- Boston
Tuna Sashimi with avocado, passion fruit, peanuts, miso & pea sprouts
This was an $18 slightly larger course of 5 small slices of tuna that you needed a magnifying glass to find. It was topped with a huge “salad” of grated daikon, carrots and other assorted “stuff.” I kept thinking there must be more tuna under all the stuff on top. No such luck. Why the peanuts is a mystery to me. I would say that the food cost for this dish was approximately 10% if that. Absolutely dreadful.
Bistro Jeanty – Yountville
Deep-fried smelts with spicy aioli – For some reason the coating kept falling off – not even close to the wonderful smelts they used to do
Smelts at Jeanty done right.
Enoteca Drago – Beverly Hills
Breakfast Pizza – Onion, Mushrooms, Bacon & Eggs – I am imagining a runny yolk. Do you see that pitiful hard one yolk? Where oh where are the caramelized onions? To the restaurant’s credit, they remade the pizza.
The pizza redone – quite a difference.
XIV – West Hollywood
White Asparagus, Risotto, Porcini, Chervil, Castelmagno Cheese – This was awful – undercooked risotto – think tiny hard bits of rice.
Yang Chow – Chinatown
Steamed dumplings – horrible
Tavern – Brentwood
No photo
Fried Oyster and Bacon Brochette with Tabasco Aioli – I was imagining lovely fried oysters that would take me back to New Orleans. No such luck. This version was a lump of 3 oysters on a skewer that tasted as bad as it looked; heavy breaded greasy mushy oysters, bordering on “bad” oysters with barely cooked bacon – a mess.
I edited in a photo of Galatoire’s oysters en brochette:
Galatoire – New Orleans – perfect
Xi’an – Beverly Hills
No Photo
Crispy Onion Pancakes – soggy pancakes that were tasteless – one bite only.
Refined Palate 