DNR List (don't tweet this post...not that anyone would have)

Tweet I am always reluctant to publicly take a negative view on a restaurant, winery, hotel etc.  I was a busboy at a restaurant and worked behind the counter of a sandwich shop and a bagel place...I know that there are two sides to the story.  I also have a terrible memory and want to have a way of finding my mental list of places that I'd rather not revisit because life is short and I just believe that my odds of having a great experience will be better elsewhere.  There are exceptions to that rule -- Chez L'Ami Louis in Paris, for instance -- where they just simply deserve to be publicly berated.  Of course, it is easiest when someone else calls them out (was it Vogue magazine that made my day by recognizing Chez L'Ami Louis as the world's worst restaurant?  Of course, that was several years after the restaurant had crapped all over me (and my family), but vindication was sweet.

Here then is my list of places that have either been affirmatively awful (hopefully there will be very few of these) and those that have simply failed to be memorable and, accordingly, I will need to write them down so that I may sidestep in the future.  The list is by location, rather than in order

AFFIRMATIVELY AWFUL
PARIS
Chez L'Ami Louis

NEW JERSEY
Lorena (Maplewood)
Khun Thai (Millburn) -- changed owners, changed recipes, killed my taste buds...sorry.  Not offensive people by any stretch, just bad cooking (May 2012)

JUST NOT MEMORABLE
PARIS
Le Verre Vole (10th arrond.) -- amusingly inattentive service, food was pretty good, but not fantastic; kind of a "can't do" attitude (August 2012)
Restaurant Raja Preuk (thai food) (6th Arrond.) http://www.rajapreuk.com  -- food wasn't that bad, though it was crawling with bugs...place was pretty empty.  People were nice and reviews had been decent.  (August 2011)


PIEDMONT, ITALY
Il Boscareto -- staff at the restaurant La Rei and at the hotel were perfectly nice, they just didn't really know how to do the stuff that needed to be done.  The hotel itself is out of place in Piedmont.  They also advertised air conditioning (which is pretty important in the middle of the summer in Piedmont) and while they have a/c, it doesn't actually cool the place so you can't actually be in your room during the day (a quick search on the internet revealed that other travelers had encountered this problem).  The restaurant service was a bit comical and the food was nowhere near the quality of much humbler and less pricey places in the area.  Again, the staff was very nice so I feel a little guilty...but so should they. (July 2012)

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