Saturday, July 22, 2006

Seven: Not the magic number

Cross-posted from Nachos, Please!

Benjamin Restaurant and Bar: 2nd Ave and E. 33rd

Have you ever been really hungry? And you go walking down a nearby street, and you see a nice-looking place on a corner. Lights dimmed, pleasant ambiance, slightly posh, but not overly so. Check out the menu, looks good.

Once you're seated, the pleasant waitron asks for your drink order. Flavored margaritas! NOPE. They don't have them. Mojitos? Nein. Okay, a beer and a midori sour.

Back to the menu: I spy nachos! Yummy. Just the thing to hit the spot: melted cheese covering a warm pile of tortilla chips. Mm.

Cheese only, please. Um...are you sure? Yes. Just cheese, nothing else? Yes, correct, just cheese. Okay...

A few minutes later (fairly quick service, that's good), a plate is set down in front of you.

You nearly splutter aloud, is this a joke? are you serious?

There are seven chips on the plate. Arranged prettily like a tortilla-chip-pizza...but still. SEVEN. CHIPS. Seven!

You politely ask the waitron for an extra serving of chips, because clearly, this ain't right. But he says, no, that's the order size. Okay...

Every inch of the tortilla-pizza is covered in cheese. No gaps. Again, while pretty, not exactly ideal. You must have the balance between cheesy and crispy, right? No one wants soggy nachos, for pete's sake.

And for cheese-drenched tortilla-pizza, it's not bad. But.

SEVEN. CHIPS!

Okay. "Dinner" is over. You decide to give them ONE more chance to prove themselves, so you order the yummy-looking pear crumble. Mm, pears and crumbly...stuff.

It arrives...and it's cold.

Sigh.

Ratings:
Ease of order: 2.
Portion size: 1. SEVEN?!
Cheese distribution: 2. Tortilla-pizza!
Taste: 3
Restaurant Atmosphere: 3
Service: 3
Quality: 2 1/2

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