Triangle Trip

First, we do not like to blast restaurants. We prefer to be the ones making recommendations. This post is an extreme exception.

Captain G and his colleagues just had their worst meal in a decade. This includes business and non-business related meals. We just left Maison Akira with a $250 bill for 3 people. This was not only the worst meal we had in a decade; it is also the most expensive.

When we chose to dine at Maison Akira, we thought we were having Japanese food or at least Japanese fusion or French fusion. This place was neither Japanese nor French. Maison Akira is located in Pasadena. Not only did the restaurant didn’t have valet; the parking lot charged us for outside parking. How could a restaurant not have valet in SoCal? We should have seen this as a red flag before entering the restaurant.

This week is restaurant week (dineLA) with prix fixe menus in LA. Maison Akira had a $44 prix fixe menu. Since it’s Chinese New Year, $44 meal should be another red flag as the number 4 is bad luck in Chinese. Another red flag was the chef prepared complementary salad that contained two tiny shrimp and five day old vegetables.

The setting of the restaurant was old musty. We were seated right in front of the door/entrance. That was another red flag that this restaurant doesn’t have good service or Feng Shui for that matter. How could a classy restaurant have a table right in the middle of the road facing the entrance?

Today’s prix fixe menu had the following entrees:  duck, Kobe beef and tuna. The three of us selected the Kobe as it was the best option on the menu. We all had different appetizers, which happened to be the best course on the menu.

The Kobe beef was the worst steak we have ever had in a decade. An Outback steak would have been 5x better. Given the fact that we had Ruth’s Chris the night before for the same price, I really felt we got ripped off for this meal. For $44, Ruth gave us a tender 14-ounce filet + appetizers and dessert.

There were four slices of Kobe beef with sloppy mash potatoes that tasted like chalk. The Kobe beef were chewy and had lots of tendons, and tasted more like lamb than beef. I thought I was eating rack of lamb as opposed to tender Kobe – the way it is supposed to be served. For all we know, the Kobe could have been dog meat, as we have never had anything so bad in our experiences. The sauce for the Kobe was most likely prepared by some amateur chef, as it tasted really tangy.

I had the Crème Brulee for dessert which tasted like egg tart that has been aged for two weeks. The Crème Brulee was extremely dried and the strawberry was not fresh. Finally, the wine selection was extremely poor. We selected the Hafner from Alexander Valley and paid $80. Sadly to say, the wine was the best part of the meal. We felt like we’d paid $250 for the wine since the meal itself was a horrendous dining experience.

Yelp also lost all of its credibility. We read the Yelp reviews before deciding on the restaurant and saw 4.5 stars from 107 reviews. After tonight’s meal, all the raters on Yelp are clueless. Yelp should remove all the positive entries about this restaurant removed.

In summary, the price for tonight’s meal cost us an arm and a leg, and it tasted like we were eating our arms and legs. We noticed the chef is Japanese. We recommend he stick to Sushi or pure Japanese food as oppose to French/Japanese because it’s not working…

Demonstrating the depth and breathe of our travel experience, Terminal D and Captain G have put together the best practices for business travel in Dothan, AL. Where exactly is D-town? See the map below:

Below is a list of our recommendations:

Where to stay?

1.  Hampton Inn

Believe it or not, this is the nicest place to stay in town, if you can get a reservation.  Built within the last few years, it’s managed to stay fairly clean and has free wifi.  It’s recommended that you bring your own pillow.   (For a true best practice, steal a pillow from the Fairfield Inn by Marriott)  And don’t let those Hilton points expire!

2.  Courtyard Marriott, which happens to be connected to the Fairfield Inn, is our number 2 pick. We recommend the Courtyard because it is slightly cleaner, but “clean” is a very generous word in this case.  Only stay here if you are a true PW.

(Warning: Don’t be confused if your morning paper and coffee is interrupted with a bill.  The breakfast is not free!)

3.  Sleep Inn is next to the Hampton Inn. It’s fairly clean but clearly in 3rd place.

What to eat?

1.  Long Horn Steakhouse – it is the best restaurant hands down. It also has a great wine by the glass selection which is unheard of in D Town!  They have a St. Jean Cab!!  Woohooo.

2. The Bistro – A great lunch place located at the heart of downtown D-town! It has good food and nice pictures of Europe – probably the only place where you could find such pictures.

3.  La’Le Mediterranean Cafe & Bistro – A great lunch place offering classic greek and similar cuisine.  Odd hours, random closings and a difficult-to-find location may anger you the first 3-5 times, but it’s worth holding out for.

4. Atlanta Bread Company – We know, but it’s the only place you can get fresh fruit and $3 coffee — although Starbucks recently opened at Target which doesn’t open until 9:30AM.

5. Applebee’s – And you thought #4 made us look dumb.  Don’t go here for the food, but the bar is nicely stocked, it’s packed with locals every night, and its proximity to the Mariott makes it a great place to wash away the memories of this terrible visit.

5a. TGI Friday’s – This is a toss up with Applebee’s. Hence the 5a rating. They have karaoke night like 2x a week. It is probably the only karaoke place where you will find zero Asians.

We love to hear from you. You can reach by leaving a comment or via email:  captaing@triangletrip.com or terminald@triangletrip.com