Anniversary Dinner

Well, Mary and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary on Monday. We decided to go out to dinner as part of our celebration. I had heard about Elle Wine Country Restaurant a couple of years ago and have long wanted to try it. Their commercials play all the time on the radio and it always "sounded" delicious. So, now was the time to finally try one of Tucson's Originals. Things started out okay, we arrived just before six to an almost empty restaurant and were seated promptly. Service was prompt, of course it was almost empty after all, and the wait staff was friendly. Here's where things started to go downhill. The small bread plates we used for our olive oil & balsamic vinegar dip and our single forks stayed with us through our bruschetta appetizer and our meals. One might think it customary for these items to be replaced at finer dining establishments, not Elle. Our dinners were not all that great either, maybe "just okay". Mary ordered the grilled beef tenderloin medallions medium and I ordered the pan seared ahi tuna rare. The medallions were tender, but overcooked. The grilled red potatoes that accompanied them were way over cooked, almost burnt. My ahi was prepared just right, but the cut of tuna was off. I'm not sure what it was - cheap tuna, old tuna, maybe frozen tuna, I'm not quite sure. One thing I do know is good tuna, having feasted on it many times on my trips to Hawaii. Now, I'm not saying that the tuna in Tucson should be as good as the tuna one gets in Hawaii, caught fresh that morning, but I have seen better pieces of tuna in this town. Bottom line, we won't go back. For all the hype in the commercials, the slick web site, and it being a Tucson Original, Elle Wine Country Restaurant was a big let down.