McCormick and Schmick's

For all of the non-existent you's out there: I promised a post on McCormick and Schmick's yesterday and didn't deliver one. I spent the day snowboarding and helping my husband teach our kids how to ski, so not only was I away from my computer all day, I was so exhausted when we got home that I was pretty much useless.

So here we go....

We've been eating at McCormick and Schmick's since we moved to DC. Known for their fresh seafood served in a steakhouse atmosphere, they print out new menus every day detailing what fish they have that day and where it's from. Their wine list is thoughtful, if not totally inspired across the board. (Many people judge restaurants by the quality of the bread and the cleanliness and neatness of the bathrooms; I judge them by their wine lists, too, especially their wine by the glass selection.) At first, we loved the attentive service, clubby ambience, and consistently delicious, perfectly prepared food. But then visits to their restaurant became studies in frustration.

1. We were sat in a corner for privacy with our then infant daughter...and abandoned.

2. I met one of my best friends there for a much-needed catching-up dinner, and our server hovered so closely that we had to tell him to leave us alone. He also rushed out our food. You'd think that, when we took our sweet old time ordering, he'd have gotten the hint that we weren't in a rush.

3. A few months later, my family and I sat outside on a beautiful summer evening and were stuck with a server who routinely disappeared.

4. My husband broke his tooth on either a small stone or uncooked rice...and then blamed by the GM for trying to defraud the company (like people are just dying to get shot up with novocaine and endure getting fitted for a crown--puh-leeze!).

5. The last time we ate there, huge chunks of ice ruined a scoop of cinnamon ice cream that accompanied their marvelous apple upside down pie. When the waitress tried to fix the problem, she couldn't. The entire batch of ice cream had been taken over by an ice cube tray. But hey, we were given a $20 gift certificate as compensation.

For the prices they charge, every meal should be wonderful, memorable, and fun. It had gotten to the point that we gave up. I suppose the main reason we kept returning was to gorge on their superlative calamari. But because we live in the suburbs, there are not a whole helluva lot of options for people who are food snobs and like a nice dining experience close to home. One takes what one can get, but one shouldn't put up with anything less than stellar.

The lunch my husband and I ate there last week was our final attempt to give the restaurant one more chance to impress us. If the meal had sucked, we would have tossed in the towel. Much to our surprise, we had a wonderful time. The restaurant was super-busy, a testament to their popularity, the food was fabulous (calamari appetizer, huge tuna burger with a tangy cucumber relish, moist and flavorful cedar-plank salmon, and aforementioned apple pie), the server was attentive and friendly, and we were not rushed.

We'll be back.