Franki and I were engaged about 2 1/2 years ago at Aqua Vin, a Chesterfield restaurant just up the street from our condo. The original Aqua Vin was actually Crazy Fish, and then it was purchased and had its name changd to Aqua Vin (roughly translated, Water/Wine). The food was good, including the seafood mixed grill and the meat mixed grill, and though the cocktail crowd was a bit too populated with unsavory types, the dining area was good. We were engaged at the AquaVin 2.0 (our name). Well, our restaurant has undergone a lot of changes, and we haven't been back for some time after a series of unfortunate meals and a real change in the atmosphere (lots of men with unbuttoned shirts and hairy chests, and the Poser Mobile crowd - no joke).
We were craving some fish on Saturday, and decided to head up there for a meal.
What a mistake. The menu is now that of an upgraded Applebee's. The decor makes me think of a high school cafeteria, and the waitstaff now looks like an average age of about 12 - a rumpled, unwashed, 12.
Casting around for something to eat - Franki got a MahiMahi special, and I got a pan-seared Salmon.
My food tasted like it really was from Applebee's, complete with a breaded fish, cheddar potatoes, and a squishy crab cake (Bristol's is much better), but it was the mahi mahi that was so disappointing. Franki took a bite, and blanched. No really, she physically recoiled at its fishy taste. She tried to force another bite down, but just couldn't. We called over to the waitress, who offered to "recook" the fish - but we just wanted out of there.
While we shrugged off needing a manager to solve the problem, I was shocked at how long it took to get our check, and get out of there. No manager ever came over (it doesn't matter if we said we didn't need a manager - you send one over anyway) - and though they took off the fish (Franki had 2 bites of it), we wanted to sprint out of there.
For the record, I tipped the waitress 20% of what the full bill would have been (it wasn't her fault, though she should have done more).
We won't be eating there again, and don't recommend it for you either. The AquaVin restaurant website. It's a real shame. Normally, you have to wait 20 years for a restaurant you were engaged in to go downhill or be demolished. You can imagine how sad it is that we feel compelled to write this, but some things just have to be said.
