Bad restaurant with NO responsibility

How many shows have you watched, where the restaurant owners complain that they are losing money and think that it might have to do with the service?  Everything from Restaurant Impossible to Mystery Diners to others, shows and whole organizations spend time to help failing restaurants.  Most restaurant owners are so passionate about their cause, that they do not wish to end it.  Unless you are in St. Louis where restaurant owners have no care about their food or service and will do anything to make a buck, like this guy:

So, recently my wife and I spent time and money at Brazikat, which is supposed to be like a churrascaria.  Let me tell you this, the place is a joke.  From online reviews, it is seen that on the nights that the owner is there, the service and food is impeccable.  On other nights, when the owner is not there, everything slips.  Horrible service had our waiter complaining about the number of people in his section and then didn't get us plates or even tongs or the red/green card to start the food coming to our table.  The salad bar looked like a bus of vegetarians dismantled it and then the restaurant failed to restock it.  The food came out either over cooked or under cooked.  You could have two different preparations of prime rib and one would have been so salty and over cooked that it was all gristle and the other one was still bloody with NO seasoning at all!  The place is an utter joke.  Then, when my wife and I were finished, we complained to the manager on duty.  The first thing she did was ask who our waiter was, in an attempt to likely throw him under the bus.

A good manager would try to do something that could make us come back or recommend it but this manager actually looked my wife right in the eyes and asked "so what do you want me to do?"  My wife also mentioned to her that we have a large family and we like to go out all together.  This meant that if we were happy, we would have had a party of 10-20 people there on a regular basis.  But, as my wife said that we wouldn't bring our groups there, the manager looked at us and said "so?"   With that level of customer service, I wouldn't let that woman manage a lemonade stand.  I tried to contact or leave a message with the owner but it would seem that that real owner doesn't know how to use email or a phone, so that went bust.  What is sad as well, is that this place fills up fast on Saturday nights, so we had an hour wait, because we didn't make a reservation.  Even more so, even if we had a reservation they likely would have ignored it.  I am just am amazed at how bad a restaurant can be and then act like it is no big deal.  The blind sheep of Clayton, jump at anything new and because it is new, they believe it to be the best, when it is not even mediocre.

Here is a good example:  The waiter brings us this dish, which he says is a "Brazilian staple" and it is mashed potatoes with cheese.

Now, you may notice something strange amount this dish, being the fact that the cheese is NOT melted at all.  That would further indicate that the mashed potatoes are likely cold and you would be correct.  The potatoes were cold as in, not warm or even hot.  The cheese was cold as well.  So, in a tropical climate where meat is very salty because the use salt as a preservative due to the lack of large refrigeration units, you have cold mashed potatoes and cold, un-melted cheese, and this dish is supposed to be a staple, a regular, everyone has one of these, items?  I doubt it.

But, a "Brazilian Steak house" should have great, large pieces of meat given by the Gauchos, right?  Well...., if you had a tunnel vision like cataract in your eye and everything that was small looked huge, then you would be correct.  One guy came by and off of his sword he gave us this:

This is not a huge piece, look at that size.  That is a normal sized dinner plate, fork and knife.  So, the piece of ultra-rare, still moo'ing beef is about the size of a Kennedy half-dollar.  Now, just about every piece of meat was this size so while it is all-you-can-eat, you will be there for years trying to eat your fill of tiny pieces of meat.

Who loves candied bananas?  Well, at just about every Brazilian restaurant I have been to, they make them all the same way: they cut the lengthwise, and cook them with sugar or syrup, until they are almost spoon tender and sweet.  Well, here at Brazikat, they do things differently.  The bananas came out in a tiny dish and looked like this:

This is a tiny plate.  Just count the banana slices: one, two....eleven.  So, eleven slices isn't even a whole banana.  So, where is the rest?  Did I mention that while the banana slice at the 3 o'clock position looks like it has browned, the others were all raw?  Yeah, it just wasn't there.

I straight up give this place a 0 out of 5 stars.  I've never given a place such a low score, but the waiter giving bad service, the manager being a bitch, the food for anemic people and the design being done and organized by a blind person made me think that this is one of the worst places in St. Louis.

Just because you won, doesn't mean you are the best

I don't really want to talk trash or spread vile rumors.  The fact is that while an institution or restaurant or chef may have won something at some point in time, doesn't mean that they forever have that power and prestige'; such as any episode of Restaurant Impossible, Mystery Diners or Restaurant Stakeout may prove. There are many episodes which had famous or world record holding chefs and restaurants whom have since then become relaxed in their work, lost their passion and thought that just because they were famous at one time, people will come back and spend money.

Along Delmar, near 170, is an Indian restaurant named House of India.  House of India was a staple for my wife and our family and whenever someone wanted great Indian food, we would go there.  It is our favorite Indian restaurant: to date.  It is just perfect.  Now, next to it, where a fabric store used to be, is a new shop. The new shop, is a Jilly's cupcake bar and cafe.  Jilly's is well known because they won on the show Cupcake Wars, in Season 3.  Now I know that they went back again in February and won another round of cupcake wars, but their food doesn't really show it.  When we went there, we picked up 3 cupcakes.  We picked up a 24 carrot gold which was a carrot cake flavored one with some dusted gold sugar on top, there was a Twisted Pink Velvet which was like a red velvet cake, there was one called the Bee Sting which has flavors of lemon and honey and finally we ordered a plain one: Simply Iced.

First off, there were some things that just didn't seem too comfortable about the cafe and experience.  First of all, it was very crowded and while that is great for places, when people left a table and no one came to clean them off and bus them, it made it look dirty inside.  Now, that we finally had gotten a table, there was 6 of us and I had to sit at a dirty and messed table and wait for someone to come by and clean it, we sat with our cupcakes and began eating and tasting.

The 24 Karot carrot cake cupcake was okay.  I'd give it a 2 out of 5, but it didn't taste anything like a carrot cake.  It had such a heavy and pronounced spice-ness to it that it tasted like a spice cake, heavy with nutmeg or allspice and cinnamon and walnuts.  If you didn't tell me it had carrot in it, I would have thought it was a banana spice cake.  It was just okay for $5, actually it wasn't worth $5.

Then there was a Twisted Pink Velvet and it tasted like the red velvet cakes that are made with cocoa powder.  It had a chocolate hint to them and was moist and good.  I'd give this one a 3 out of 5.  It was good and I'd order it again; it was also $5.

The Bee Sting was interesting because as much as I thought it would taste like honey, it tasted more like strong fake lemon flavor than anything else.  The little piped icing bee was cute and the little lemon candy shaped honey comb piece was tart and the cake seemed pretty normal and subtle.  I'd give it a 2 out of 5 and it was also $5.

The last one was the Simply Iced and was their regular iced cupcake and was $3.75.  This one was better priced and for its flavor, which was a regular vanilla flavoring, I'd say that it was still over-priced.  It had a vanilla cake and the icing was pretty normal for a Jilly cupcake.  I was expecting something grand but maybe my taste buds are not as refined because their Tahitian vanilla icing tasted just like the fresh vanilla bean icing I can make at home using the beans I buy at Costco.  The ones at Costco are from New Guinea or somewhere like that, so they taste the same to me.  Still, I'd give this regular tasting cupcake a 2 out of 5.

Here is the thing: the cupcakes all seemed normal.  There wasn't anything strange like a beer flavored cupcake with bacon or something strange that should be in a cupcake.  Furthermore, while these cupcakes are large, they are not as large as the huge cupcakes you can find at places like Sams or Costco.  I dunno.  Maybe I'm just not a cupcake snob, but I will not get there anytime soon.  This is like the trouble wine.  You need to get wine tasting experience by learning about wines and tasting wines.  But if you don't have the funds to buy wine all of the time, how can you tell which wines taste the best?  Here, at places that charge as much as a full meal, for cupcakes, makes it difficult to taste as many as I can.

If you are hungry for a cupcake and you have $5 and some change in your pocket, then go there and have one.  If you are hungry for a cupcake and you want more than 1, then go some place else.

A request had been made...sorta

Here is the thing, around the end of November, my wife wanted to go out and celebrate her birthday.  So, I started to look for places to go.  I was looking for some night clubs but since there appears to not be a single decent nightclub in St. Louis, one without fights, shootings, thugs, or with at least somewhat dance-able music, we skipped the dancing.  I was thinking of places to go when I noticed that a restaurant had "Liked" my facebook page about Tasty-Magazine. I wondered if that was because the restaurant liked to read the blog in general or if it wanted to be reviewed.  Either way, I thought it should work.  My wife could order the Sushi and Sashimi choices and I could order everything else.

So, we arrived at Miso, on Meremac, on a cold and rainy Saturday evening.  We came in the upstairs area and upon seeing it packed, it was suggested that we move downstairs and then go and enjoy the full service in the Lounge area.  We walked down the stairs to a dimly lit area with some nice music and we were led to a smooth couch with some glass tables, lit with candles.  The are was pretty romantic, except for the big screen showing some college football.


I wanted to try many things and have a good time.  So, like other famous reviewers, I made a wide selection of foods as my wife stayed along things she enjoyed.  I ordered many items on the "Share Plates" selection as these were meant to go with many people but I ordered many, thinking that the serving sizes would be small, since the way the restaurant seemed.  I was wrong.  The overall severing size was quite large as you would need what I would guess to be 4 people to eat one Share Plate.

I first received the "Sesame Dragon Wings" with a creamy cilantro dressing.  I like the hot wings, which were good hot wings, a 3 out of 5, but there was nothing special about them.  Someone had sprinkled black and white sesame seeds on the hot wings and they were not overly spicy either.  The sauce wasn't that good, as it was described as being a creamy cilantro dressing but was really blue cheese dressing with a sprinkling of dried cilantro.  They were good and I think people should order them, but I have a thing for hot wings.

I then ordered a plate of "Kobe Sliders", which were described as coming with "carmelized onion, Yuzu truffled aioli and “Tokyo” style fries".  What I received was a plate of sliders, which is the term now for small hamburgers.  I forgot if there were four or three of them on the plate.  They had butter grilled buns, a large heaping of grilled onions and Kobe beef in the middle with just a dollop of sauce.  The burgers were cooked right for being Kobe beef, which meant that they were seared on the outside and pink on the inside.  The meat, by itself was very flavorful and moist.  The "Tokyo fries" was not what I had expected.  The fries were also an item on the "Share Menu" and a small discussion with my wife had resulted with a thought that the fries, which were said to be "nori-furikake style fries", should have been fries with the rice seasoning of seaweed and spices.  All that could be tasted was regular French style fries with salt on them.  I know what the nori-furikake seasoning tastes like as my wife has several cans at home for her use and they all have a stronger flavor than what was on the fries here.  Don't get me wrong, the burgers made up for the fries, so it wasn't a failure. Just don't expect some outrageous fries with your outrageous burger.  The burger was a 4 out of 5 and the fries were a 2 out of 5.

We then had the "Steamed Pork Pot stickers with pork, shrimp, soy vinegar sauce".  I'm not a huge fan of seafood and while I thought that the pot stickers wee very tasty, a 3 out of 5, the sauce was very fishy and I avoided it.  The pot stickers were light, crunchy and flavorful as the sauce was heavy and fishy.

I also ordered some sushi rolls for my wife, who loves sushi.  She said that overall the quality of the fish was very good, extremely good.  She loved the meal but had some misses in her hits.  The idea was that the classic sushi rolls were excellent.  Although, when there was a signature roll made by Miso, the flavors seemed to not work together and either fall flat or be to complicated to get a good harmony of flavors out of it.  One of the rolls which my wife ordered said it had Kimchi in it and was supposed to be Korean inspired.  However, my wife loves Kimchi, proper Kimchi, the kind which had been fermenting for up to a year, like REAL Kimchi.  The Kimchi that was placed within this roll, however was not real Kimchi.  The Kimchi tasted like lightly picked cabbage, not even pickled enough to taste like sauerkraut, but just like someone took some cabbage and poured some white vinegar on top.  My wife couldn't finish that roll and was quite displeased.  I think she would have given her overall sushi experience a 3 out of 5 though.

So, overall, it would appear that Miso is a good place to go.  It ranks right up there with some of the nicer places in St. Louis.  I would say that if you are looking for a nicer place for a Sushi date, then you need to go to Sushi.