Disappointing

Although we were all excited to dine at the Lynnhaven Fish House, which had previously been rated both tasty and delicious, tonight's experience was distinctly negative. Here is the breakdown:

1. Appetizers: popcorn shrimp with haberno infused raspberry sauce - i didn't taste, but was reported to be scrumptous. Mildly spicy, however, and thus not up to par with the advertising.

She crab soup - I was most excited for this, but i was once again disappointed. This may be the end of my relationship with She-crab soup. The distinction between a bisque and a chowder type soup is one of flavor in my book. Bisque's are lighter in flavor, thus they accentuate the lobster or crab in the soup. Chowder's have a heavy cream base, which, in my opinion, dilutes the purity of the flavor of the meat in the soup. I can't speak for clam chowder, becuase it's not my style, but I don't think it makes a ton of sense to use a dense, thick sauce with crab, which has a somewhat mild flavor.

Overall, I'd give the apps a C rating.

2. Salads/Bread: Bread was very delicious, light and fluffy. Salad was disappointing. Whatever happened to a simple oil and vinegar based dressing? Some places call it "italian", others call it house. Frankly, I would have been satisfied with a creamy italian. Instead, I had to settle for "french", which i'm sure would make many french people turn their noses in disgust. But, really, when it comes down to it, who the hell needs a salad in the first place? It's almost impossible to wow me with salad, so when I am thusly not wowed, you receive a poor rating.

Oerall, this course received a C rating.

3. Main course: Three of us ordered Yellow Fin Tuna. We had very high hopes of deliciousness, but, we were all disappointed. Phillip ordered his "rare", which raised eyebrows from our waitress. Expecting that the "rare" would be cold in the middle, I asked for mine "medium rare", as did Eric. But, it was all for naught. "Rare" apparently means "cooked to a nice brown color in the middle" and medium rare means "tastes like fresh leather boot". It's a damn shame to ruin fish in such a way.

Even more appalling than that, however, was what they called "sauce". You had 6 or so options for sauces. All three of us chose the meditereannean style, expecting a subtle, yet delicious sauce. Instead, we received a pile of chopped green onions that might have been lightly tossed in a thimble full of olive oil.

The problem with this was obvious. Their sauce does not actually meet the definition of 'sauce'. Even though "sauce" does include the term "relish", they are actually distinct items. Therefore, the completely false advertising created an expectation that could not be met by their poor planning or execution.

The other problem, clearly, was that if I wanted a handful of green onions, I would have gone to Farm Fresh and gotten my own which undoubtedly would have been a safer option. But, safety considerations aside, there's nothing like overcooking your food and then piling a handful of green onions on top to ruin a perfectly good meal.

Entreé rating: D

Desserts: Didn't get any. Fussy 2 year old curtailed that option. But, given the track record, that was probably for the best.

Company: Even though the food wasn't great, I had a good time. Definately an A level effort from family and friend (Matthew).

Overall, very unsatisfactory, and I would highly recommend that interested parties skip the Lynnhaven House on their next trip to Virginia Beach because it fails both the tasty and delicious test.