In celebration of Rob's 26th birthday, I planned two main events for him this weekend. On Friday night we attended a birthday dinner that Mike and I planned for him at Trader Vic's in Palo Alto. Ten of his friends showed up and we had a blast chatting and eating Polynesian-style cuisine. I had planned something for us to do on Saturday morning and into the afternoon but Rob really wanted to go to Maker Faire in San Mateo so we went there instead. I was glad we got to go because I've never been to anything like it, although the Craft section reminded me a little of Comicon. Pretty much anyone who works with their hands and makes things was there. There were tons of creative and innovative projects that people were working on or have already built. I even helped build a Ybox with a group of four other people (including Rob). We got to take home kits so we can build our own from scratch. I've never soldered anything but jewelry before so it was fun trying something new. After Maker Faire, we went home and got ready for dinner. I made a reservation at Manresa about a month in advance and I had high expectations for it since it was the only restaurant in the state (or country?) that earned two Michelin stars. The only other restaurant in the state that earned more was French Laundry with three stars.

Unfortunately, this is the point in which I would like to vent my frustration about this place. I was really disappointed with the food and communication at Manresa. I don't know how in the world did they get 2 Michelin stars. We ordered the four course menu, the wine pairings, and added the cheese plate. There was a bad miscommunication with the cheese plate because the menu indicated a $5 supplement to the price, but they didn't explicitly tell me that the $5 supplement is in addition to a $15 or so increase to the price of the 4-course menu. Plus they added an extra wine with the cheese course which they did not tell me about until I received the check. I thought they were just being nice and gave us an extra wine for Rob's birthday. I feel like I got scammed an extra $60 just for the cheese plate and a sip of wine each. Let me be clear, I was expecting to spend a lot (around $300); however, tricking people into spending more money is a big no-no in the industry, especially if it degrades their experience rather than enhances it. I will not go into detail about how disappointing the food was (I'll leave that for Yelp), but let's just say that I would have been happier going to fucking Olive Garden! Pointer for the staff: steak knives would have made cutting your rubbery steak a lot less difficult.

I am not a newbie at fine dining, but in this case I wish I was so that I would be blissfully ignorant of how good the experience should have been. I probably should have put up a big stink about it but I'm not usually that type and I didn't want to dampen Rob's birthday. In conclusion, both food and price at Manresa= hard to swallow. Go to 5th Floor or French Laundry instead if you want to blow that much dough.