Wendy C.
Yelp
I'm extremely disappointed to have to take a full 2 stars off my review, but after our visit today, my opinion of Chair 5 is notably diminished.
First thing we noticed - the menus. Different items on the slimmed down menu. No fun little amusing paragraph at the beginning. What's going on here? We ordered, i asked for orange juice with no ice, and mussels from the appetizer menu, with a side of fries, husband got the all meat pizza with added olives.
I am given - of course I am given - orange juice with ice. I fished it out with my fork, and threw it in my water glass. Even so, it already tasted watery and not proper orange juice tangy.
When the server came with the food, my husband asked if the owner had sold the place. The server said yes, and that it was now owned by the same person that owns The Inn at Whittier, and BaseCamp.
Having had a dreadful dinner in the Inn At Whittier, when i visited as a tourist in 2010, it made my heart sink a little. That's awful because the Inn At Whittier is beautifully located, but the dinner we had was - and i would rarely use this word in conjunction with any restaurant - tasteless and bland. So it was with trepidation that i began to eat my dinner. I was embarrassed for the server having to take away our plates, with food that we had barely touched.
However, these were big, juicy, plump delicious mussels, in a fairly tasty, well seasoned broth, but i feel it necessary to criticize on a couple of issues. I was not given a bowl in which to put my empty shells. I wasn't given the correct silverware to eat the mussels. I wasn't given either a spoon to eat the broth, or bread to dip into it, and the bowl was so wide, that to have tipped it up to drink it, would have been hideously messy. But that's what i did, in order to give the broth a fair review. In addition 4 or 5 mussels were unopened, and 2 were broken - everyone knows not to eat those, so i feel that they should have been removed from the plate prior to serving, and replaced with fully open mussels. Fully opened mussels, a few pieces of French bread, a spoon and an empty bowl for spent shells would have increased my rating.
The fries seem different. I think they're a different type than the previous owner used. I don't have an issue with them, they tasted fine. Not amazing, just fine. Elevated by the Jalapeno House sauce i always get on the side.
My husband had nothing good to say about his pizza, and was quite grumpy about it, he only ate half, and didn't even bother taking the rest home which he usually did in the past. One of the meats was a type of beef, he said it tasted like taco beef, and he objected to the crust, he said it was not quite as cooked as he liked. I asked him to show me underneath, and it didn't look raw, but neither did it look golden and toasty either. When i probed him what was wrong with it, he couldn't put his finger on it, and just said "It's different, not as good as it was" What can i say? He's picky about his pizza.
Dang I am going to miss my Coconut Shrimp Salad, Cheesy Fries, Spinach and Artichoke Dip - these were all solid core menu items that you could rely on being of consistent quality. The new menu seems quite seafood-centric, and there's calamari, crab, halibut all featured. I hope i find a new dish to love, when we go back.