American -> United Airlines -> Sterling, VA

There is only pictures and reviews of the food on our trip there cause the food was just so awful we didn’t take any on our return flight back.

	Beef Stragnoff – The beef was not too chewy. The noodles were firm, the best of the bunch.
	Ginger Chicken – The chicken didn’t taste like chicken, more like tofu. That set off some red flags. Sprinkled with sesame, though it really wasn’t that pronounced.
	Ramen – Can’t expect too much, wasn’t too bad for Instant Noodles.
	Japanese Noodles – Wife didn’t like it, the problem was I had this after the pasta and thought it was great compared to the mess that was the pasta. The noodles were a bit too soft and the veggies were too flavorful.
	Pasta – Absolutely disgusting, the pasta was soft and smushy and the sauce was way over peppered.

Related Reviews:
/2007/11/26/american-united-airlines-paris-france/
/2007/11/20/american-united-airlines-sterling-va/

 

American -> Ruby Tuesday -> Fairfax, VA

We wanted some greens so we decided to come here for the salad bar.

	Salad Bar – See previous review (Link Below). I don’t know if it’s the economy but there seems to be less and less options at the salad bar.
	Jumbo Lump Crab Cake (Almost all crab and nearly no cake. Made from fresh, premium jumbo lump crab meat and seared to a golden brown.) – The crab cake was more like a crab pancake. Weird shape. Also the salad that came with it was very flimsy. The crab itself was so so , not a ton of jumbo crab, but a decent amount. Came with this very strong and piqaunt sauce.
	Mini Trio (Our famous Ruby mini, a savory turkey mini with Ruby’s mayonnaise, and our crab cake mini with a sweet and spicy chile sauce.) – See above for crab cake. The min-burgers were a little dry. The turkey mini was . The fries were really overcooked.

Quick Note: Service was atrocious. Waters were left unfilled the whole dinner. Server was pleasant but she was absent other than delivering food. When we asked for a box to go, she gave us the smallest box, which any two year old could see would not hold the food we had left over.

Previous Review:
/2007/09/07/american-ruby-tuesday-fairfax-va/
/2008/10/14/american-ruby-tuesday-fairfax-va-2/

 

American -> Ray’s Hell Burger -> Arlington, VA

We kept trying to come up with a place to eat for dinner, we decided it was best if we just came back to the DC area to eat.

	Root Beer – Standard Old Dominion Root Beer from the tap. Nice large pitcher hit the spot for all three of us nicely.
	Regular Burger – Wife ordered a simple burger with just onions and mushrooms as she was in the mood for something simple and direct.
	The Burger of Seville (Seared Foie Gras, Sauteed Mushrooms, Bordelaise Sauce, Truffle Oil) – Ok I absolutely have been eyeing this for a while. I love foie gras and to be able to serve it with truffle and beef, I had to try it. A fair amount of Foie Gras for the price as well. The Bordelaise sauce was the key as it perfectly tied in the mushrooms with the foie gras. It was so aromatic and very delicious, I sadly wolfed the whole thing down as it was so amazingly good. The truffle oil was mild and not overly strong which was helpful as well.
	B.I.G. Poppa (Au Poivre Burger With Black Peppercorn Crust, Aged Danish Bleu Cheese, Cognac & Sherry Sauteed Mushrooms, Grilled Red Onions) – Our friend stated that the blue cheese was bit of an overload. Also she said that since the peppercorn and the blue cheese have two very strong distinct taste, she didn’t know if the two combined well at all.

Decor: They moved it a few doors down to the old Ray’s the Steaks building. Similar setup with a better control on the line. Note, we discovered if you come here at  9 pm, there is no line.  We came at 8:30 but the line moved at a fair and brisk pace.

Previous Review:
/2009/02/20/american-rays-hell-burger-arlington-va/

 

American -> Pig + Fish -> Rehobeth Beach, DE

The original place we had designated for dinner had a two hour wait so we wandered a bit till we found this place.

	Son of a Peach – Hmm a very very fruity beer. Borders more on a cocktail drink rather than a beer. Also it was served to me warm. What’s up with that? An auspicious start, as I would realize later.
	Bread – A little soft with a thicker crust, it was only given to us when we asked for it, as we ran out of bread for the fondue.
	Chesapeake Crab Fondue (blue crab, sherry, muenster cheese, old bay flavors, toasted bread) – Not very seafoody, the fondue mixture was on the warm side, not hot. There were lumps of crab in the mixture as well as non-melted lumps of cheese. A bit mild on the flavoring.
	Atlantic Cod Fish + Chips (pub style battered, fresh lemon, homemade coleslaw, tartar) – One of the better dishes. The fish was light and fluffy, the fries were a bit dried out. The coleslaw was very watery and very flavorless.
	BBQ Braised Pork Shank (22oz bone-in-shank, smoked cheddar mashed potatoes, sautéed baby spinach, balsamic barbeque glaze)- The disaster of the night. I sent this back not once, but twice. After the second instance I asked for something else. The meat in the center was frozen both times. The first time, they replaced it with another shank; however, when I cut down the center of the second, we had the same problem. I wonder if anyone else had the same problem that night. The mashed potato and BBQ sauce mixture was interesting. The pork was dried out like it had been cooked too long which is interesting considering the frozen center.
	Pei Mussel Penne (fresh basil, tomatoes, garlic, prosciuto, white wine) – This was the dish I ordered to replace the pork. Penne was a bit overcooked. However the sweet sauce and mussels blended in nicely with salty proscuitto. A good replacement and it was very very fast.
	Baby Back Ribs (full rack, sweet corn cake, shoepeg corn, homemade corn slaw)- Friend order the ribs, they were a bit dried and our friend couldn’t finish it as well. The corn cake was uninspiring and on the dry side and lack a hearty corn taste. A fair amount of ribs though. The sauce was tangy and sweet.
	Southern Vinegar Style Pulled Pork Sandwich (cole slaw topped, on ciabatta roll) – Our friend didn’t report any problems with this dish. Straight forward pork and a toasted bun and kettle like crunchy chips.

Decor: The service was really really slow. Don’t know what that was about. Our server was nice, and the restaurant had a brown theme going. The restaurant is large than it looks as the place is very very deep.

Overall Assessment: ($$$, 1/10) – Ok so the food was pretty bad. I think three out of the four of us were feeling sick that night or the next morning. I will give them that they were really nice about the screw up. That’s the thing saving it from bottoming out. I wished I could rate it higher as the people and owner/manager were really nice about things, but let’s be honest here. The food was really really terrible.

Website: http://www.thepigandfish.com/
Location: 236 Rehoboth Ave, 19971
Reservation: No Reservations
Takeout: N/A
Hours: Mon – Thurs; 1600 – 2100, Fri – Sat ; 1200 – 1400, 1600 – 2130, Sun ; 1200 – 1400, 1600 – 2100

 

American -> Ninth Avenue Vintner -> New York, NY

Ok,so this isn’t a restaurant nor is it make your own cheese place, but I wanted to review it for the great service.

	Prima Donna (Cow Milk Gouda) – A smoky gouda taste yet not too strong, soft and have hints of nuts.
	Robiola (Italian Sheep and Cow) – A very soft and creamy cheese that mixes sheep and cow milk allowing for a velvety mild sheep taste.

Decor: They are divided to two stores, the left is a wine store. The right is a beer and cheese store. The folks at are friendly, most cheese stores are stuffy and laugh at you if you don’t know what you are buying. We were able to try some cheeses before we bought them and talk to the server about them. We were going to get sandwiches at another place, but they were closed. I wished we had bought them here. Really tight navigation and intimate place.  Room in the back if you choose to get some brewskies and sandwiches.

Overall Assessment: ($$, 7/10) – Fairly reasonable prices for the cheeses. Also if you don’t like the size, you can ask the guys at the counter to cut them smaller. Great for grabbing some beers and cheese before heading out to a picnic area (which we did for the 4th fireworks).

Website: http://ninthavenuevintner.com/
Location: 669 Ninth Avenue, 10036
Reservation: N/A
Takeout: 212.664.9463
Hours: Mon – Thurs; 1030 – 2200, Fri – Sat; 1030 – 2300, Sun; 1200 – 2100