On the Market.

After having a lovely dinner at 202 Market, Rebecca and I stopped in to Metro! to see what all the hype was about. Let us start with the fact that it was so warm that I was breaking out in a sweat in my suit jacket. Add now the fact that you have music so loud in the upstairs bar that it was hard to carry on a conversation in the downstairs dining room. I would understand the level of noise if they had live music or such, but to have simple background music playing in a bar that loud is just ridiculous really. Now we’ve both heard nothing but great things about the food at Metro! so we stuck it out a bit longer while we patiently waited to get service. The waiter was incredibly nice, but a bit slow, mostly due to the fact that the place was packed to the gills. This could explain the overall temperature of the place, but you figure the management would compensate for that with perhaps some air conditioning. I even hear that they make these automatic programmable thermostats that can keep an establishment at a certain predetermined temperature. Perhaps they keep it hot to make up for the lack of a fireplace for ambiance. Now, to add to that, not only did I have my nice loafers stepped on once, but twice by the wait staff. Luckily, they both were smaller women on the wait staff, but still. I have never had my feet stepped on in a restaurant before, and here it happened twice. It wasn’t as if I were stretching out in to the aisle either. My feet were squarely planted underneath our table. Simply amazing really.

Anyway, Rebecca ordered the Calamari fritters, and I ordered some of the famous sushi. Since I have fallen in love with Wasabi’s I only thought it fair to try to find something on the Metro! menu that compared. So I ordered the Star City roll. It is a tempura fried, seared tuna roll with a spicy sauce. What drew me to this was because it is comparable to my favorite Sumo roll at Wasabi’s. If only it were truly comparable. First, Rebecca’s Calamari fritter was more breading and fake crab than calamari. It was severely overspiced, and so overpowering that you wouldn’t have known that there was calamari in it at all. On first tasting my Star City roll, Rebecca exploded in laughter at the face I made, because evidently I had never made that particular one before. Last I checked, tuna was supposed to be a bit flaky, not stick to your teeth chewy. Now, I love spicy food, I really do. I enjoy a good Indian curry, or a nice spicy enchilada, even some pepper laced chili. However, when you are using your sauce to cover the flavors of your food because on it’s own it has none, well, that’s going a little overboard. Between the combination of the spice in the fritters, and the spice in the sauce covering the roll, my stomach is doing nice somersaults right about now. But when your wife asks if her chest should be on fire, you know something is wrong.

So, like when we sampled what Blue 5 had to offer, sadly, I just don’t get it. Save your money, put the suit back in the closet, and get into that comfortable pair of jeans and head to Wasabi’s. Or, if you like to wear the suit and spend the money, go pay a visit to the wonderful Chef Chad Scott at 202 Market and try out the new menu, or his specially prepared tasting menu. You’ll be comfortable and have properly seasoned food that never is a disappointment.