Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Complain, Complain


We often stay for dinner when we go to Bellingham. Billy McHale's restaurant was recommended to us so we thought we would try it, even though it was a busy Saturday night and the place was packed. We got a table right away, and found the service to be very good. What I had a complaint about was the food. I ordered the Coconut Shrimp entree and was looking forward to something I would never get at home, but loved. The menu stated that I would get 5 jumbo coconut shrimp with steamed vegetables, cheese bread, and a twice baked potato. Our food came very quickly but I was immediately disappointed when I saw the "Jumbo Shrimp". Maybe baby shrimp, or son of jumbo shrimp, but jumbo they were not. One small bite each was all there was. I guess 'Jumbo' is a relative term, say compared to popcorn shrimp, or perhaps microscopic shrimp or shrimp embryos.  Not to ponder too long over semantics, I will say that they were tasty, but rather inadequate. The steamed vegetables were on the verge of overcooked, but edible. The cheese bread was dried out, the size of a credit card, and had no taste. The twice baked potato had been baked more than twice by the look of it. It was dried out, pasty, and the penny sized chunk of bacon on the top was only slightly less tough and chewy than a penny.
Due to a lingering hunger as result of not enough shrimp, I went out of character and ordered a restaurant dessert, Rusty's Butterscotch Brownie Sundae. The brownie was vastly under baked and was basically a butterscotch cookie dough with a bit of baked crispiness around the far edge. It turned me off a bit, but I ate it. (Sweet tooth, you know)
The top photo is a depiction of a larger version of my shrimp. The lower photo is more like what I thought I would get, but was hoping for even larger.
Because this place gets pretty good revues on trip advisor, I should not be too hasty and say I will never go back. But, if I do, I will not order anything with Jumbo as a prefix.

1 comment:

Rachel said...

Email them and let them know.