Apparently, He Didn't Like It...

I read restaurant reviews occasionally not for recommendations--hell, I already know where I like to eat here in town--but for the vitriol served up after a bad experience. In fact, it's the same reasons that I watch Blind Date once in a while: the wreckage of a date that starts out horrible and only goes downhill is an awfully funny thing to watch. It's had the effect of making me feel far better about my own dating life when things haven't been going that well.

To extend an aside, the best-worst episode I ever saw involved a guy who got completely sloshed throughout the dinner and dancing portion of the evening, who (both drunk and sober) stared at his dates breasts the entire night, and happily admitted to his obvious visual fixation a number of times. The end of the date ended with the requisite hug and with him trying to get a little bit more. As his date turned away, he made one last try for her attentions by whipping out the little guy and assuming she would be impressed.

If a story like that doesn't make you feel better about your dating life, either you're dating the wrong guys or you really need to work on your manners. One or the other.

Back to restaurants.

The Rocky Mountain News has a review today of the, apparently, past its prime Josephinas. Once upon a time, this was a popular Denver stop that served pretty decent food at some pretty high prices. Now, it seams, that it serves pretty horrible food at some pretty high prices.

If I had more space for this review I'd tell you about other service miscues, not to mention the beer smell and smoke clouds you endure to get to the dining area, the lousy wine list, the dirty restrooms with broken fixtures and the waiter with major body odor.

One horrible meal could be dismissed as an unfortunate anomaly, but I endured three visits to this restaurant. I ate lunch at Josephina's in September. That meal was uniformly awful. I had a second lunch in November that was also horrid, including an encounter with the eatery's less-than-stunning "award-winning" pizza.

After 30 years in business, Josephina's is a Larimer Square institution, perhaps because it serves institutional food. I've actually had better food on airplanes. For the $200 I spent on this dinner, I could have flown somewhere warm and eaten something good.

Once upon a time, Josephina's might have been one of Denver's better red sauce joints. Now it's staggering like a prizefighter past its prime. It's also the odd man out in Larimer Square, which has been repopulated with some notable eateries.

We can only hope that Josephina's will get a major midlife makeover or at least a decent burial.

Ohh, that's gotta hurt.

I haven't been there in a while, and apparently there's no reason for me to hurry back.

Just thought I'd share...

Posted by zombyboy at January 9, 2004 07:37 AM | TrackBack