Tuesday, August 7, 2012

The Office Lounge

Hmmm, not usually let down by our Groupon, but this one really sucked.

I will caution everyone against going to The Office, especially for the Sunday/Monday movie night, because as it turned out, that is what we bought (despite the Groupon being a $60 value and this deal of dinner/movie being only $54).

The choices are severely limited. Two appies: bread or Ceaser salad. Two mains: linguine or salmon. The linguine had tomatoes and olives, the salmon is salmon: all of which Matt doesn't like.


We were not even offered the regular menu.

The appies came. My "jem lettuce" Caesar was actually just plain old romaine in a small dish. The dressing was very good though. Plus, the "naan" and tatziki Matt ordered turned out to be stale Thrifty's pita (not naan) and store-bought tatziki. I was proud when he sent it back and asked for the salad instead. The salad was small, but at least it tasted good. There is no way this is on the normal menu though, and if it is and more than $4, what a rip off!


But seriously, it really bothers me that they upscale the lame dishes on the menu and then serve total bottom of the line crap. Why say it is jem lettuce when it isn't? If Matt hadn't worked in produce (for years), we probably wouldn't have noticed, but why lie? The average person has no idea about types of lettuce beyond iceberg, leaf, and romaine.


We ordered one of each main course. Matt went for the pasta. It was well done. It had capers, sun dried tomatoes, and black olives. It really could have used a seafood or chicken. I would be surprised to see this item on a menu for more than $12. It also came with 2 pieces of focaccia.


I had the salmon with fingerling potatoes, green beans, a creepy 1/2 tomato, and crispy onions. The salmon was supposed to have crispy skin, and it did on the ends. It was actually well cooked and fairly tasty. The potatoes were very good. The green beans were plain, but fresh and well cooked. I really don't have any complaints about this entree. I could have made it at home though. It was simple, but at least they can do simple food.


The dessert, at best, can be described as sketchy. It was an apple crumble with ice cream. No choice. Hope no one is allergic to apples! Ours had a slice of Granny Smith on top; everyone else seemed to get a gooseberry. It was small. VERY small. Like, for a normal sized person, 4 bites? That wouldn't be a big deal, if it was good. But it was not. It was SO over cooked. Basically, I could make this by putting a spoon of applesauce in Charlie's baby bowl, and then some crumble on top and microwaving for 2 minutes. This mess was topped off with a tablespoon of vanilla ice cream. Classy.


Why would anyone go here? I cannot fathom. Sauce has the same atmosphere and menu style, but the food is actually good.

My one compliment would be our waitress. She was very good. We were not much into being warm and happy customers, although we didn't try to cause trouble, and she did a good job.

Honestly, this was an awful experience. We will not be back. This is the second time in our lives we went and got a snack directly after dinner. It wasn't that we were still hungry; it was that we were very very unsatisfied. Considering this meal would have been $27 EACH, that is horrifying. I can't believe this place stays open.

This is exactly the WRONG way to offer a Groupon. If you read the Urbanspoon reviews, you will see there are even more people upset over their experiences. Why alienate people who are not even your customers yet?



The Office Lounge on Urbanspoon

1 comment:

  1. TOTALLY agree. I also had this Groupon and was surprised when I got there that it was such a limited menu offering (it did NOT mention that in the Groupon fine print to my memory). I was super disappointed in the size of the portions, and the dessert was totally lame.

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