Welcome!

I am so glad you stopped by! I do not consider myself a "Food Critic" but having grown up in the restaurant biz and liking to experience new flavors, dishes and places, I have decided to blog about my experiences. Some will not be so wonderful, while others may be revisited and talked about some more! There are so many fabulous places to eat in Ft. Pierce and the surrounding areas, I'm sure I won't run out of experiences for a long while! So pull up a chair and order a drink!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Rinelli's Yellow Tail Restaurant











is located in downtown Ft. Pierce on the corner of 2nd Street and Orange Ave.



They offer everything from salads, to sandwiches, to seafood and escargot.



See the menu at the link above.








As I have stated before, I do not consider myself a "food critic", as I have not received any sort of formal training, but I do know what food should taste like and what good service means. Today, I went to "Yellow Tail" for the first time and I must say my over all experience was not what I expected. Let's start with the food.



To start with, at lunch, I like to simply order water with lemon as this way my drink doesn't cloud the taste of the food. If I were out to dinner with my husband, I would perhaps order a glass of wine or some sort. Lately, I have had this thing for seafood, especially conch, so my first order was a cup of Bohemian Conch Chowder ( $4 ). It was a hardy cup, filled with more potatoes than conch, but still tasty with just the right amount of spice. It definitely could've used more than the 5 tiny pieces of conch though. For my main dish, I tried the BLT Chicken Salad($9), offered on their daily "blackboard specials". When it came out, it was very appealing with a genorous portion of mixed salad greens, a boiled egg sliced atop along with diced tomatoes, sliced cucumber, real crumbled bacon and, of course, grilled chicken. A slice of garlic bread was served along side of it. The garlic bread wasn't very toasted and was almost flavorless. The salad, however, was quite yummy! I asked for ranch dressing, which they put on the side, thankfully. The ranch was tasty, but didn't stand out. The chicken was grilled very nicely and the added sprinkling of herbs added an extra flair.



In my opinion, service will either make or break my experience just about anywhere, but especially restaurants. Unless the food is just one of a kind, something I can get no where else, I will not generally revisit a place that does not provide at least good customer service. Picky? Maybe. But why am I eating out in the first place? Because I want the opportunity to have someone make the food for me and take care of me, and, of course, for the experience! So customer service is a very important piece of my overall experience.



I don't know if it was because I came in alone, the scrubs I was wearing or if, perhaps, it was simply a bad day for nearly everyone there, but from the moment I walked in, I felt as if they just couldn't wait for me to leave. And I almost did, but do you have any idea how hard it is to find a parking spot downtown at lunch time? I had earned the right to eat there! My waitress barely said anything to me. Snapping questions rather than smiling and making polite conversation or suggestions, in my opinion, she should look into a change of careers. She did promptly bring out my chowder and refilled my water when it was completely empty. When my salad was brought out and placed before me, not one word was offered and my empty soup cup continued to sit on the table. I might expect this sort of thing from a little diner or dive, but not this place with it's black table cloths and white cloth napkins, with food on pretty, white plates.



Not once did my server stop and ask how my meal was, though she walked past me several times. She only returned to my table to place the check before me. Needless to say, I did not leave as generous of a tip as I usually would and will probably not be visiting there again any time soon.

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