Last night I celebrated Restaurant Week with Dori. We love Restaurant Week because it gives us a chance to eat an appetizer, dinner, and dessert at a fancy restaurant for a fixed price. We browsed all of the menus until we found a restaurant with some vegetarian options. It was actually kind of tough to find one with vegetarian options but eventually we chose, One if by Land- Two if by Sea.
We got there and realized that they were celebrating Restaurant Week until September 5th! We were kind of upset that we did not choose somewhere with outdoor seating but who knew? The restaurant had beautiful, old- fashioned decor with pretty chandeliers and a piano player. There was also a pretty garden outside of the windows.
Photo: Daniel Krieger
We sat down and felt like we were on a date! We got a candle lit for us and everything!
We checked out the specialty cocktails. They all sounded great! They were also $15.00 each. EEEK. I went with the Strawberry Margarita.
It was delicious and luckily got me a little buzzed! It better be strong for $15.00!! Dori got the Watermelon Martini.
They served us whole grain rolls to start. The roll was one of the best parts of the meal (besides the drink and dessert)!
Next they brought us watermelon gazpacho. This was a nice surprise! It was very refreshing.
We got to choose from 3 appetizers. I went with the Haricot Vert Salad: grape heirloom tomatoes, goat cheese, slithered almonds, basil, sherry vinaigrette.
I had no idea what haricot vert was at the time but now I see that it is French for green beans!
I really enjoyed this dish. I pretty much love anything with goat cheese!
Dori started with the Cucumber Gazpacho: fage Greek organic yogurt, mint, dill, cilantro, and balsmic.
This was good but nothing special. I tasted it but don’t really like anything with cilantro.
For my main course, I went with the Wild Red Snapper: kalamata olives, preserved lemon risotto, herb salad.
I asked if I could get this dish with no olives but the server said that they were already mixed into the risotto. I can’t stand the taste of olives so I had to skip the risotto. The fish was pretty good but nothing special. I had about half of it and decided to save room for the dessert.
There is a funny story that goes with Dori’s entree selection! She planned on getting the only vegetarian option on the menu. The menu online says that this is Homeade Summer Squash Ravioli: rustic peperonata sauce, oregano, Parmigianino reggiano. Dori thought this was what she ordered. Her entree came out and it was fettucini! We were so confused. We could not remember if she told the server fettucini or ravioli! We probably would not have went to that restaurant at all if she knew it was fettucini. She ate a little bit of it anyway but it was not what she wanted.
The couple next to us had a menu so we tried to peak over to see if it said ravioli or fettucini! We could not see. We decided we would say something to our server because we barely ate our entrees and we really wanted to see if they brought Dori the wrong entree. Unfortunately the busboy took our plates away before the server could see all of the food we did not eat. I was really annoyed that we were about to pay so much money for not so great food. We did not say anything to the server but decided to just check the menu on our way out. Oh well. We both wanted to drink more but did not want to spend another $15 for a drink! We thought about ordering one to share but we decided to just leave after dessert.
We both ordered the same dessert: Gianduja Mousse: caramel bananas, banana bread ice cream.
We were both looking forward to this dessert for weeks! We were a little concerned that it would be tiny but luckily we were wrong.
The dessert was definitely the best part of the meal!! The mousse was so thick and creamy! The little bit of vanilla ice cream went so well with the bananas and banana bread. It was seriously so good. It was the only part of dinner that we actually finished completely! At least one thing was amazing!
We left the restaurant after dessert but decided to go back in to double check the menu. The menu really did say fettucini! The menu in the restaurant was different from the menu online! This happened to us one time before during Restaurant Week. So annoying. We had no way of knowing though so we did not get too upset. The dessert was great and the restaurant was pretty but it was way too overpriced. Oh well! It was a lovely date with Dori anyway!
1) Do you have a Restaurant Week where you live?
2) Any recommendations if you are in NY?
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How romantic!! A lot of people get engaged at that restaurant. =)
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I am so sure I never said the word fettuccine! I would not say that word! I Love Gianduja, anything hazelnut is amazing to me. Thanks for a lovely evening!
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I went to One If By Land, Two If By Sea during the winter restaurant week and loved it, though the portions were absolutely tiny! It’s a bummer the food was sub-par. As great an idea RW is, I think a lot of servers kind of resent it because it means less tips, so maybe that’s why he didn’t pay close attention to the order. Bummer!
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definitely hit the MESA Grill- they have some good selections for RW
Girl if i was with you i woul dhave held onto my plate to show hte server. looks like a fancy place so i woul dhave def said somethign!
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Great info! I’m going to One if by Land on Friday, and I have been thinking about that dessert since I saw the menu too, haha. Glad it lived up to expectations. I’ve already been to Apiary (great!) and am going to Spice Market tonight. LOVE restaurant week
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Missy Maintains Reply:
July 21st, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Hmm I might see you when I walk out of work!
Missy Maintains recently posted..Restaurant Week- One if by Land-Two if by Sea
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That’s so disappointing – One if By Land has some really good reviews, but I’ve heard of some not so great experiences. I think that the romantic atmosphere and ambiance might cloud some people’s judgement
At least dessert and drinks were good – they’re the most important part of the meal.
Jeff and I don’t usually do restaurant week because the service tends to be off, but you can get really good deals on BlackBoardEats.com. They offer prix fixe sometimes, but most of their deals are 30% of the entire bill – drinks included. You should check it out.
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Dori Reply:
July 21st, 2010 at 4:57 pm
OH WE WILL!
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Missy Maintains Reply:
July 21st, 2010 at 5:02 pm
I started getting BlackBoardEats maybe a month ago? Waiting for one close to me! Great deals though!
Missy Maintains recently posted..Restaurant Week- One if by Land-Two if by Sea
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whaaat i can’t believe it wasn’t that good! i can’t lie that i’m shocked i thought this place would have been great. my old boss proposed to his girlfriend there!
i want to do restaurant week SO bad but its not in my budget!
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wow! i am sorry for your experience. I look at the one if by land menu, since it is supposed to be the city’s most romantic restaurant! I had an okay res. week dinner at Butter a few years ago. I have a reservation at David Burke Townhouse and Nougatine for Friday, not sure where we’ll end up. Del Posto might be good!
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Looks like a great place. I love resturaunt week when it comes to Austin because it gives me a chance to sample new places with out breaking the bank!
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I love restaurant week!! I always make an attempt to hit up Miami restaurant week when ever its that time of year. So many great restaurants for a fraction of the price.
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haha thats funny about her entree! oh well…yes boston has a great restaurant week and i always check the menus before hand to make sure there is something i will eat!
that dessert def looks like the best part!!!
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you can try fishtail or eleven madison park for restaurant week. good food <3
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Watermelon martini? Yum!
You don’t like olives? Crazy!
Restaurant Week?! Awesome!
hehe, I’m so lame.
Yes, we have a restaurant week but I’ve never taken part. Apparently, I should! The summer squash ravioli sounds marvelous.
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LOL that place is in all my nyc travel books as one of the most romantic restaurants! HAHAHAH. classy and sasssy laddiessss. Everytime I go to NYC I have to eat at Bobby Flay’s restaurants…I’m such a tourist.
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the desert looks great!
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I’ve always wanted to go to “One if by land, two if by sea” but it’s one of those “I’m waiting for a rich guy to take me” restaurants. LOL!
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I love restaurant week! So much fun. Sorry your experience wasn’t perfect though!
I went to the Russian Tea Room a few days ago with my mom. It was really good. They make the drinks so expensive everywhere since the meal is cheaper! I ordered tea and it turned out it cost ten dollars! The food was wonderful though and the restaurant was really cool on the inside. I really want to check out Morimoto next.
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Well at least dessert was good!!!!
the place looks beautiful though, and love the drinks you both got!
Expensive drinks that I hope got you a good buzz from one! lol!
Have a great day girl! xoxo
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I’m never impressed with the food at fancy restaurants like that. I think the hype is all about the history and the decor, not the actual food. At least the dessert was good!
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[...] Dori and I went to City Crab a few years ago and both got sick from the fish! Last year we went to One if By Land, Two if by Sea and had another bad experience! The third time is always a charm, right? This year we chose Mesa [...]
Enak ya kl kelas nya di x2 ahahaha
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