Restaurant Review No. 1: The Green Papaya, Bethesda
In attendance: Bailey, yo; Britney, yo; and Veronica, yoTo commence the Summer of Restauranting, three alligators set out upon a quest to dine at Tommy Joe's in Bethesda, Md. Unfortunately, however, the line—which was peppered with former frat boys—extended out the door. The alligators, then, were forced to choose another.
We settled instead on The Green Papaya, which is a Vietnamese cuisine restaurant located on Elm Street in Bethesda. For the purposes of reviewing, I will be commenting on the food, Brit on the decor, and Bailey on the service.
We all ordered from the resonably priced lunch menu, for it was lunch, and all chose vegetarian dishes. I had a curry with coconut milk, which was similar in taste to many other curry coconut dishes that I have had before. It was absolutely fine, but not spectacular. Britney had veggie fried rice, which, again, looked to be pretty standard. Bailey had the best of the three—a tomatoey tofu extravaganza, which we all sampled and declared to be "fabulous!" Finally, we all had some chilled spring rolls with peanut sauce.
In all, from the food standpoint only, it was a very pleasant meal. Filling, but not heavy; refreshing for a hot summer day, etc.
Food quality: 2.5 teeth
For the rest of the review, see comments.
posted by Veronica @ Thursday, July 06, 2006
2 Comments:
There's a joke among the gators that you can always tell when Bailey, yo, is having bad service at a restaurant:
1. It's Bailey.
2. She's at a restaurant.
Seriously, y'all, I am PLAGUED by pathetic dining-out experiences. Restaurants see me coming and say, "what can we do to make sure she never comes here again?"
And I'd like to add that I am not a difficult or demanding patron. I've never actually sent food back to the kitchen to be redone. I just have some weird hex on my head that I will never have a peaceful, enjoyable meal out. There's always some drama.
What? I'm supposed to be writing about the service at Green Papaya? How the hell would I know good service from bad? They brought me what I ordered (like I could tell if it hadn't been?), it was tasty, and the only fuss was the length of time between appetizer and entree (too long). Could have used another glass of water, but, hey, you risk being abandoned by your server when you opt to sit outside. So, 2.5 teeth outta 5 on service.
I have been assigned to review decor. Why? Because I'm from the Midwest, and if it isn't cornbread, I've got nothing to say... SO decor it is.
As Veronica, Yo described in her blog, the Alligators left the party barge around noon and made their way to Tommy Joe's. We didn't eat there, of course, but I would still like to comment on the atmosphere. It had that sort of ironic-diner look. You know, made to look like a typical diner--Formica table tops, silver napkin dispensers and "squeezy" ketchups and mustards sitting table-top in bright red and yellow plastic bottles--but you have to take out a second mortgage to buy a hamburger. I did however, like the eye-candy that seemed to be a permanent fixture in the place. They're wearing ties and look like they have real, grown-up jobs, but you'll always see them there. They must live in a world where it's always noon, they are always at lunch, and they always have frat boy pasts and current drinking problems. We all made out with them once in college, but were disappointed to find out their lives ended in high school. But they're pretty and fun to look at. You know: "This would be much more fun if you'd just stop talking..." kind of guys--But I digress....
The Green Papaya... The inside of the restaurant was pretty, shiny and modern. The air conditioning, if I recall accurately, was at a reasonable high, but we chose to eat outside anyway on account of the nice weather. The plates were pretty and ceramic. Two of us had blue, one green.
At an Irish pub across the way, unwashed masses watched the world cup and caused a ruckus. It is hardly fair to blame the Green P. for this, but, perhaps supplying each patron with a pair of those sound proof Bose ear muffs would help. They might also have helped to drown out the screeches of the teenaged girls sitting at the Italian place behind us. Bailey, Yo kept thinking they were schizophrenic vagabonds.
But all in all, it was a pleasant, alfresco lunching experience. I'd say 3 out of 5 teeth.
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