Meh. đ Date Night was sort of a bust. Mal and I enjoyed our time together, but the restaurant we chose for dinner was just so-so.
Snack
Mid-afternoon, before heading to dinner, I snacked on some dried apricots and a small package of salted peanuts. The combo held off my hunger for a couple of hours.
Dinner
A few of weeks ago, I bought a coupon from Restaurant.com for Ecco Trattoria & Bar, so I decided to cash in it tonight. Unfortunately, Mal and I were not impressed with the restaurant. I loved the dĂŠcor and vibe, but the food was pretty averageââeven below average. Maybe it was just what we ordered?
To start, I ordered one of the fancy martinis from the beverage menu. It was supposed to be served with a blue cheese-stuffed olive, but, apparently, the menu needs updating because it came with boring jarred olives. I was really looking forward to that special olive, so I was a bit bummed.
Similarly, Mal wasn’t thrilled with his drink experience. Ecco only had a few varieties of beer on draft, so he ordered a Stella Artois, which he said tasted like the keg lines needed to be cleaned. Eww.
For my entrĂŠe, I ordered the Pan Seared Scallops over tomatoes, onions, white beans, and pancetta, topped with cilantro in a white wine sauce. It was tasty, but nothing special. It sort of reminded me of a Real Simple recipe that I’d make at home in my own kitchen. The scallops actually tasted a little overdone.
Dessert was the biggest disappointment of the night. The Crème Brulee immediately caught Mal’s attention, so we shared it. Sadly, it didn’t taste like Crème Brulee at all. We’re almost positive it was vanilla pudding with burnt sugar on top! It definitely wasn’t the traditional Crème Brulee we expected.
I’m not sure we’ll ever eat dinner at Ecco again, but I want to go back to try a number of the martinis on their menu. A lot of them sound delicious! They even have a carrot cake martini!
Our last TNT training run is tomorrow morning. 8 miles!
66 Comments
I have run by there a number of times and have always wondered what it was like — now I know! Thanks for saving me the trip.
from the looks of the photos…..i wouldn’t be happy either. You both seem to be good foodies, sorry it didn’t work out.
The creme brulee looks….dull.
Murphy is so big!
Jar olives, dirty beer, overcooked scallops, and vanilla pudding? Sounds like the chef was out of town or something. Gross! I hate when date night is not superb because of the restaurant.
I have two questions for you!
1) How is your cutting back on the sugar going? Are you finding yourself crazing refined sugar less? and…
2) How do you feel about artificial sweeteners? I’ll just be honest: I often find myself sprinkling a blue packet into my skim latte at Peet’s and sometimes feel embarrassed about it. It seems like the blogworld is pretty anti-artificial sweeteners. Your thoughts?
Good! My cravings are a lot more managable. I still have them, but they don’t make me as crazy as they used to. I wrote a post last week about what has been helping me deal with them.
As for artificial sweeteners, I don’t use them.
bummer…i hate it when a restaurant disappoints like that! the martinis do sound good though đ
Well, at least you know now. That’s too bad that it wasn’t that good.:(
Sorry it wasn’t as good as you hoped! At least you and Mal had a good evening out together though!
OMGosh, good luck with the last training run! You’ll love the taper time!
Ohhgee …. bummer re the lame food Tina & Mal. Jeez. It’s happened to us. Chefs should be more alert/responsible w/their product. I mean, would they welcome it for their dinner? Especially, when first-time customers try-out your restaurant, chefs should be extra cautious. I would never go back to that place. Forget the drinks. So, Tina, got to mention ….. every single time you (always!) say ….. “AND, I had an iced-coffee”….. for sure, you make me laugh & laugh!!! Really. Love all the grub photos …. no matter how many times you shoot them …… groovy!!
(I never take pics …. can’t do it well.)
It’s always a bummer when you have a bad experience at a restaurant… you live you learn!
Bummer!