Mello's [General]
2011 Oct 24
I was encouraged to go there shortly after I moved to Ottawa, I was told that it was the place for a good hangover breakfast..... I have to tell you that it was hideous, and if my experience was anything to go by then short of yet another fast food chain, whatever goes in there will be an improvement.
2011 Oct 25
I'm sorry, guidelines? I just had a quick look around the site and whilst it's possible I may have missed something, I didn't find any guidelines as to how I'm supposed to describe my restaurant experiences (although the FAQ's are very amusingly written, so thank you for giving me reason to read them).
I'm not aware that critiques are required to be purely positive, but I'm as fulsome in my praise as I am blunt in my criticisms. I'm just as happy to wax lyrical about Domus, The Grand or Ahora as I am to criticise some of the abominable places in Ottawa. Clearly you're just as inclined to do so judging by your view of Blue Cactus, a view with which I disagree but am entirely happy to respect.
I won't mourn the departure of a bad establishment that appears to have been trading on reputation rather than any ability or desire to serve passable food. Sorry if that view offends you, but feel free to trash some of my favourites. I promise not to be upset.
I'm not aware that critiques are required to be purely positive, but I'm as fulsome in my praise as I am blunt in my criticisms. I'm just as happy to wax lyrical about Domus, The Grand or Ahora as I am to criticise some of the abominable places in Ottawa. Clearly you're just as inclined to do so judging by your view of Blue Cactus, a view with which I disagree but am entirely happy to respect.
I won't mourn the departure of a bad establishment that appears to have been trading on reputation rather than any ability or desire to serve passable food. Sorry if that view offends you, but feel free to trash some of my favourites. I promise not to be upset.
2011 Oct 28
I'm with Johnny on this one. NU decides to lecture him that because a place has been around since 1942, and is allegedly always busy, and since her husband takes the kids there for years, all this makes the place good and above criticism?
The lecture plus the random bashing of Blue Cactus and the sarcastic 'fascinating' sign-off = a deserved lashing from Johnny.
Also, nobody likes people who invoke rules or guidelines at the first hint of disagreement.
The lecture plus the random bashing of Blue Cactus and the sarcastic 'fascinating' sign-off = a deserved lashing from Johnny.
Also, nobody likes people who invoke rules or guidelines at the first hint of disagreement.
2011 Oct 28
Thanks for that.
I'm struggling to see the issue, to be honest. There's a degree of respect that I expect from restaurants; cleanliness, an at least basic attempt to create a pleasant environment in which to eat, and serving edible food would fall into that category. My experience of this establishment demonstrated a lack of all of these things, so forgive me if I'm less than generous in my respect for them.
If your big gripe was with my comment about your kids, my apologies if you read that as a slur - it wasn't intended as such. I'm actually a big believer in the natural development of immune systems, as I would hope most self-proclaimed foodies would be; the alternative is homogenised, chemical-treated, genetically managed lifestyles. It was meant as a joke at the expense of the restaurant, not your family.
I'm pretty sure I'm on safe ground with my language, at least.
I'm struggling to see the issue, to be honest. There's a degree of respect that I expect from restaurants; cleanliness, an at least basic attempt to create a pleasant environment in which to eat, and serving edible food would fall into that category. My experience of this establishment demonstrated a lack of all of these things, so forgive me if I'm less than generous in my respect for them.
If your big gripe was with my comment about your kids, my apologies if you read that as a slur - it wasn't intended as such. I'm actually a big believer in the natural development of immune systems, as I would hope most self-proclaimed foodies would be; the alternative is homogenised, chemical-treated, genetically managed lifestyles. It was meant as a joke at the expense of the restaurant, not your family.
I'm pretty sure I'm on safe ground with my language, at least.
2011 Oct 28
Johnny English, based on your latest comment, there is a subtlety that comes into play.
The guidelines say:
•Treat vendors with the same respect you expect from them as a customer.
As opposed to:
•Treat vendors with the same respect you receive from them as a customer.
And your language was fine. :-)
The guidelines say:
•Treat vendors with the same respect you expect from them as a customer.
As opposed to:
•Treat vendors with the same respect you receive from them as a customer.
And your language was fine. :-)
2011 Oct 28
Well, I don't want to get into an endless and ultimately pointless argument of semantics here, but after my first experience of the place my expectations of the respect I'd get from them as a customer are in line with the amount they've shown me thus far.
In playground parlance, they started it; I'm not sure how respectful it's possible to be of a place that serves food on unwashed plates (and I'm not making that up, there was congealed egg stuck to the side of two of our four plates when the food was served). Is there a nice and respectful way of describing that sort of dining experience?
In playground parlance, they started it; I'm not sure how respectful it's possible to be of a place that serves food on unwashed plates (and I'm not making that up, there was congealed egg stuck to the side of two of our four plates when the food was served). Is there a nice and respectful way of describing that sort of dining experience?
MarthaS