The Finer Points of Fine Dining (Part 1)

Below is a guest post from restaurant blogger Lex Egerton, who will be writing a weekly blog post on the fine and not so fine dining destinations in the US.  At CitySpur we like to focus exclusively on the best that a city has to offer, so we’ve hired a third party to do our dirty work each weekend.  Enjoy!

Hayashi via the iPhone

Greetings fine dining connoisseurs, when I was originally approached on writing this weekly feature I declined, due to the fact that CitySpur has the reputation for only writing about the best in the luxury space, and I have the tendency to be overwhelmingly blunt in my restaurant critiques.  However, upon further contemplation I considered that my unique perspective and experiences might be just what this upscale audience might need, so here we are.  If you prefer strictly positive and glowing perspectives, this is not the weekly editorial for you; however if you like to find an honest opinion in the world of cookie cutter travel blogs then we might have some fun together.

I thought I would start this series off with a review of a dining establishment in the city that CitySpur was born, Lubbock, TX.  This West Texas city of around 200,000 individuals has a surprising number of fine dining institutions.  When I was first approached about this writing opportunity, I was flown out to this windy town and taken to, what I was told, was the best restaurant in the city: Hayashi.  This was a brand new Japanese restaurant that was only a few months old, but had already become the new hotspot for foodies in the region.

Obviously new restaurants go through growing pains and so I forgave the poor service we were met with on our first venture to the establishment.  The sushi and Japanese cuisine was so much better than anything I had ever sampled from the area, practically anything could be forgiven.  Therefore, at the meeting we had decided to listen to the multiple recommendations that had been emailed to the local Lubbock site and list Hayashi as one of the best fine dining restaurants in the city.

However I went back there this evening to complete the review and was quite literally shocked at how poor the service was.  With food that rivaled some of my favorite Japanese restaurants from around the country such as NOBU and Koi, I truly expected to be met with at least adequate service, however for a second time the service was not only poor it was downright incompetent.  Below is a synopsis of the evening:

1. Seated - We were seated at the sushi bar immediately, the restaurant was packed so we were pleased to get in so quickly.

2. Drink orders - The waitress was quick to take our drink orders, and within 2 minutes we had our Chardonnay and martini.

3. Time to wait - Naturally we expected to be able to give our sushi orders soon, however it was 20 minutes until a waitress asked if we were ready to order.  Not unforgivable, except for the fact that it was if the staff disappeared from the the scene completely for this time, which was exactly what occurred the first time we tried the restaurant out.  Also, during this waiting period, one of the hostesses decided that we didn’t need any personal space and pushed two chairs into the already crowded sushi bar space, causing some awkwardness between myself and the stranger I was brushing elbows with the entire night.  Also, the forced confinement caused my dining partner to hit my chopsticks with hers, thus dropping a decent amount of Kani salad to drop on her blouse.

4. The food - As bad as the service was, the food made up for it in a big way.  Starting out with a mouth watering appetizer of Rock Shrimp brought out in a martini glass and finishing off with two servings of uniquely succulent spicy tuna rolls, this place knows how to treat their food.  We also sampled the Lobster roll, which was above average as well.

Overall, I would have to say that if you are the type of foodie who needs an equal helping of service to match the cuisine, this dining destination is not for you.  However if you can get past the poor wait staff and elbow bumping at the sushi bar, this West Texas establishment has Japanese cuisine that matches upscale restaurants from around the nation, and destroys them in price.  There aren’t too many fine dining choices that give two people their fill on drinks and sushi for under $75.

See you next week.

A Walk Through Lubbock, TX

A city that has been brought into the national spotlight these past few months is Lubbock, TX.  This city is home to Texas Tech University, who’s football team performance has resulted in dramatically increasing the number of visitors to this pleasant city.

Lubbock is home to some of the best restaurants, neighborhoods and family destinations in the West Texas region and is thriving despite the downturn in the economy.

To find the best that the Lubbock has to offer, click here.