Another Restaurant Week lunch!

I had another Restaurant Week lunch yesterday - the reason I chose this restaurant was: I figure that any place that has the word 'lobster' in the name is out of my price range.  And since City Lobster and Steakhouse was in my office neighborhood, I thought...why not?

Well, it wasn't one of the best Restaurant Week lunches I've ever had.  The food was fine, nothing special - I guess I've been spoiled by all of my fantastic lunches so far.  And the service at City Lobster wasn't that great, either.  So it was sort of a disappointing experience.

I went with my other boss, so at least that was fun.  We always have a good time and had a lot to catch up on - when we're in the office, there's always so much work to talk about, we rarely get the chance anymore to talk about other real-life stuff.  So it was nice to sit down and have a good chat.

When we arrived, about five minutes before my reservation, the hostess looked at us a little askance and said 'do you mind waiting a moment?'  We said no and went over to stand by the bar.  She came over again a few minutes later and asked if we wanted to check our coats and told us we probably should sit down since it would be at least ten minutes before we would be seated at our table.  I said, really?  With the subtext of 'how long do you think we can be here for lunch?!"  She said there was a table available in the bar, so we went to sit there.

Our server was very pleasant, but we rarely saw her.  We had to ask a couple of times for drinks, refills and our dessert order was wrong.  I don't recall it being so busy there that service should've been so scattered, but maybe it was.  I don't know.  We just didn't feel very well taken care of.  And, as my boss said, they should be extra nice to people during Restaurant Week so they'll come back at other times!  Right?!

For my first course, I got the crispy "Point Judith" calamari, which was served with some pickled and spicy peppers and a lemon saffron aioli.  The calamari itself was nicely seasoned and very crispy, though the pickling liquid from the peppers (which were VERY spicy) was pooled too much at the bottom of the dish, so the bottom calamari were soggy.  That was a little annoying.  But the lemon saffron aioli was delicious, I'd love to have that on many other food stuffs.

My main course was the Maine lobster roll (which, of course, had a supplemental fee.  oh well.) which came with fries and cole slaw.  The fries were very good, very crisp and not soggy at all.  The lobster roll was served on a nice toasted buttery roll and was lightly dressed with mayonnaise.  So I enjoyed the flavor very much.  But there was a lot of cartilege in the lobster, so I was constantly picking pieces out of my mouth.  I did not enjoy that very much.  If I'm paying extra for a lobster roll, I expect it to be cleaned before it gets to my table.  I'm picky that way.

Dessert was a tasty key lime pie, very tart with a nice graham cracker crust and fresh whipped cream.  My boss ordered it too, but for some reaason he was brought pecan pie.  And he had to ask twice for coffee.  So, although the food was not exactly bad, I'm pretty sure I won't be going back to City Lobster.  Which is a shame, because it's a nice spot near my office.  Ah well.  Next week, my last two lunches!  I'm looking forward to my usual higher standards of lunch to be met!  :)