Five Worst Reviewed Restaurants of 2011

​Perusing the past year's restaurant reviews has brought to light something I suspected: I wasn't very mean in 2011. It was difficult to find five scathing critiques. In fact, I really didn't find any -- there was only mild sarcasm in a few of the following. Still, these were the most disappointing restaurant meals of the past twelve months.

I vow, as one of my New Year's Resolutions, to be much tougher in 2012.

Photo by billwisserphoto.com

Andalus' paella.

​5. Andalus
The dining experiences at Andalus "didn't quite clang our chimes," starting with the "cool, capacious ambiance" that seemed "all too quiet and cold -- the antithesis of warm, boisterous tapas bars of Spain." Tapas were "really full-size appetizer plates," which is "not how tapas are supposed to work." Paella, for $40, "brought mostly prosaic ingredients while lacking promised squid, fish, and peas." Our order of ajo blanco (chilled garlic/almond gazpacho) "never arrived."

Photo by billwisserphoto.com

De Rodriguez Ocean's tuna mixto.

​4. De Rodriguez Ocean
The backstory to Ocean's negative write-up is that, unbeknownst to me at the time, Doug Rodriguez was out of action with a physical injury during some of the initial months of opening. Timing wasn't on Doug's side. Although the paella was "pedestrian," and the overall experience "half-baked," some items (like ceviches) were good. But the restaurant appeared to be "more like a business plan than a place to dine: big-name chef on the marquee, an emphasis on seafood, and a means of snatching some lucrative tourist trade from the real estate south of Fifth Street." And while I didn't know the famous chef was absent, I sensed it, saying the menu was straightforward enough "that it could be prepared without needing Mr. Rodriguez on deck." D-Rod is back on board now though.