JB and I visited Restaurant BT for our anniversary. It was, in a word, disappointing.
One reason we went was because we heard it was veggie friendly. There wasn’t a single veggie option on the appetizer list. The waiter said the kitchen could make spring rolls with tofu, so we had that. There may have been a veggie option on the appetizer specials of the day, but the waiter waited until after we had consumed our appetizers before telling us about the appetizer specials of the day. (The vegetarian crispy spring rolls that are on the menu posted on the web were not on the menu handed to us at the restaurant.)
Our salads were fine, but the main courses were (did I say this already) disappointing. The singular overwhelming taste of JB’s Monk’s Ragout was pepper. There was no complex balance of flavors here, just pepper. Lots and lots of pepper.
My shaken beef was adequate, a little over-cooked, and a few gristly/fatty inedible bites, but the sliced tomatoes were delicious.
The pre-dinner cocktail was, Jennifer insists, my own damn fault. I ordered the bamboo martini and was dreaming of a subtle mixture of flavors, but what I got was some sickeningly sweet concoction better suited for a group of novice drinking sorority sisters. The wine we had with dinner was fine, but greatly overpriced.
And, while this has nothing to do with the food, I want to comment on their webpage. It is a stunning example of poor design. When you roll over a button the button turns into a word, but in order to read the word you have to move your cursor, so the word turns back into a button. And when you finally do decipher the word it’s meaningless - think, meet, gather, huh? What’s the difference between meet and gather? Which one of these tells me the hours and the directions? And finally, is that really the chef staring back at me, wearing nothing but a chef’s coat and baring all that leg? That’s one saucy chef! The food, however, was (how shall I put this) disappointing.
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8 Comments
you weren’t kidding about the website O_O!
good grief, and i promise you they paid a substantial amount for that site too.
ps. congrats on your anniversary!!
Thanks.
You’re right. Flash design like that doesn’t (usually) come cheap. What’s so brain-aching about it is that a simpler, cheaper design might actually help increase business. But, I suppose their whole schtick is style over substance.
Happy Anniversary! I am sorry you didn’t have a wonderul dinner. I have avoided BT since the move to Hyde Park. If I want good Vietnamese I go to Pho Quyen.
Thanks, Rebekah!
We’ve eaten our share of Pho Quyen (and enjoyed it), but lately we’ve been visiting Sai Gon Bay (2373 E. Fowler) for our Vietnamese cravings. We’re also fans of Trang Viet.
BT is one of our favorites. I am sorry you were disappointed with it. I will have to give Pho Queyn a try to compare the two establishments.
I have another friend that ranks it as one of the top restaurants in Tampa. Perhaps it was an off night.
I’ll probably return eventually, but it will have to work its way back through the rotation, so it may be awhile.
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