Sometimes the Food Sucks

Now that you are here, I’m going to burst your bubble from the jump. If you clicked looking for salacious and juicy details about a restaurant I visited recently, you are only half right. Yes, I did have a terrible lunch a few days ago. No, I am not going to tell you where it was. Then why am I wasting our time here? Thanks for asking.

I had some very very rare down time a few days ago. My family was out of town.   I was riding solo.  It’s not uncommon for me to use those opportunities to go way off of the reservation for some eats. It doesn’t always happen that way, but I figure, if I am taking a chance on a meal somewhere I’ve been told I need to try, then I’m only spending money on one meal (mine) if I visit by myself. Especially if it underwhelms.

Which-trust me-it very often does.

We got an email into Eat It and Like It central a number of months ago. I’d like to say 4 or 5 months. It was very short and sweet asking me to visit this place because they believed they had the best chicken wings in the city. “Everyone thinks so.” they said. OK, I am intrigued. It is possible for some great wings to fly under the radar, right?

The wing spot was my second stop. The first was a bakery I was also asked to visit recently.  It happened to be near by where I was going for lunch. So Ok, cool. I’m in.

The visit to the bakery was cut short because I wasn’t carrying any cash. I was paying with a debit card and was told there was a $10 minimum for cards. I thought that was excessive for a bakery, so I promised to come back. Not before, however, they asked me if I’d ever been told I look like the guy that writes for the Savannah Morning News. As well as WTOC’s Don Logana.

“Yeah, that’s happened a time or two.” I said before leaving. I’ll get back there. Cash in hand. It smelled good.

I made my way to lunch, kind of excited by the wings I was about to have. As I mentioned it, we’d gotten the email nearly half a year ago. We get a handful of tips a month and we try really hard to get to them in a timely fashion. Sometimes if I know I cannot get there any time soon, I will ask someone to visit for me. Eat It and Like It screen test, if you will.

If the report comes back that it was as advertised? Then I will make time to Eat It and Like It myself.

Breaking news: The chicken wings were awful. Dare I say they sucked. They were coated in some sugary excuse for a crust, probably more processed than some of the worst food out there. Fried crispy like I asked, yes, but they smelled like chicken broth.

My car smelled like chicken broth the whole drive home. Disgusting, really. There were only 5. I ate them. Ate them and didn’t like them.

It happens.

I chose to write this piece on the heels of that experience to share with you that it happens a lot. A lot more, actually, than I’d like. If I’ve told one person, I’ve told 100 in my travels. “We eat a TON of bad food in search of the good.” Occupational hazzard.

I’m certainly not looking for sympathy. Not at all. The flip side are the days I eat something really special and look forward to sharing a new story. Or the nights I walk out of FARM Bluffton feeling like I had a culinary out of body experience. I do enjoy some incredible meals both here in Savannah as well as on the road while researching our TV show. Yes, it’s all research. (insert wink). Lucky guy, I am.

It’s just that sometimes the food sucks. #truth

Please keep those tips coming:   email us at tips@eatiandlikeit.com.

See you on TV

Jesse

# # #