Sunday, December 17, 2006

Zed Cafe Redux

We were back at Zed Café on Lakeside. This time for lunch. The Richmond Times Dispatch had just come out with a so-so review of the place. I had had a good dinner experience, thus, I was a little surprised. Unfortunately, RTD has a correct assessment. Once again I ordered a Love Potion #9 (pomegranate juice and lemonade). Instead of the tall vase-like glasses that were such a big hit with us last time, we were served the mixture in regular glassware…and we were served a mixture of pomegranate and orange juices. When I asked the waiter, he seemed to not have a clue about what was on the menu (the blond dye from his somewhat Mohawkish coif hair may have had an unexpected effect?). He did return with the correct ingredients. My hubby ordered the herbed bison burger, which was good meatwise, but, apparently, part of the “herbs” included a ton of whole-grain mustard (undisclosed on the menu), which is not a favorite of my spouse, thus, spoiling his enjoyment of the meat. The menu also said the dish came with home fries. The waiter asked what side dish my husband wanted. No side dishes were on the menu to select (again, I chalk it up to the dye job). My husband said home fries. About 5 minutes later the waiter came back to say they were out of home fries and would sweet potato fries be okay. How can a place run out of home fries??? (Unless they are the frozen not fresh variety.) I had the chicken pesto panini with roasted peppers and a side salad. My sandwich was very tasty, but did not make up for all of the other mis-steps. What a disappointment. Both the wait staff and the kitchen need work to turn Zed Café into the place it aspires to be.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

agreed. i had a very disappointing visit for lunch recently on a chilly saturday. no soups. special salad unavailable. special sandwich unavailable. bad water - it tasted like it had been filtered through an ashtray. and, a pet peeve of mine, no plain iced tea. is it so hard to brew some plain old luzianne along with the raspberry/melon/jasmine/whatever? that said, i would go back for a panini (our veggie/pesto one was great and huge) but only as take-out and only for panini.

Anonymous said...

Wow! whoever posted the comment preceing mine Wow! I never knew someone could be so ignorant. Maybe if you knoew what tea was. Lipton or luzianne is not tea, it is a processed packet and is horrible for you.The tea they use is actually REAl. The point of Zed Cafe is to give you the freshest, organic food available, and yes sometimes they run out of things, or would you rather them serve you 3 week old soup, I bet you wouldn't, so stop complaining. And whoever wrote this article, STOP JUDGING PEOPLE, What are you like three years old, i mean really, GROW UP. Anyway, i go to Zed Cafe almost every Saturday and have never had a bad experience, I believe in what they are doing and think that if you are going to be ignorant, then stay out. Otherwise, open up your mind to this type of food and enjoy a great meal.

pjpink said...

Steve - You (and everyone else) are entitled to your opinion, I'm glad you have never had a bad experience at Zed. Until I hear that Zed's service has improved, I'll not make it a routine stop.

Anonymous said...

Wow. We went to Zed's and walked out without eating anything.

They offered two menus, one 3 course prix fixe, one a'la carte. I selected the prix fixe, I selected a'la carte. The chef sent our order back.

I would understand if one of us had ordered the 5 course tasting menu which comes with the caveat that the entire table must order. Here we are talking about the same number of courses in a restaurant at 7 in the evening with only one table other than ours....

When you are a chef with a full restaurant and a line at the door you may dictate to your customers, when your restaurant is empty....