Paying more don't mean better

VALedictorian and I hit up a new(ish) food joint last night. It claimed to be a Chinese-style "noodle house" and comes from a chef with a pedigree of very tasty restaurants. As soon as she arrived (I was early), she exclaimed, "I'm so hungry!" thanks to a big workout she'd endured.

So, we sat promptly and ordered ourselves several dishes: Shanghai dumplings, crispy duck, pea shoots and lamb stew. We dove into the "catching up" portion of the evening: holidays, travels, recent failed dates, worky, and realized that it was 40 minutes later and no food had arrived.

Our waitress told us that there was a "problem" with the dumplings and that they were on their way. And when they finally arrived, we gobbled them up and devoured the rest of the food as it came.

Having grown up with Chinese food all my life (the grandparents even ran two fine establishments during my youth), I feel like I can tell the good from the bad. This was the meh. Well, to be fair, it was on the better side, but for the prices advertised on Le Menu, you'd expect a bit more pizazz. Maybe something a bit more creative. Not just the type of food you can get in Chinatown for half the price.

Nonetheless, it was great catching up and filling my stomach. Not so great waiting for a muni to arrive because it was much later in the evening than normal people get out of dinner on a school night.