Disappointed BY A LOT at my beloved Russ&Daughters

[littlejoker]

This is a little late in reporting but Mother's Day brunch was sadly horrible due to almost inedible and on the edge of just plain bad fish ( except for the nova) I purchased at R& D. It seems many of the patrons were ordering "local" fish due to the Japanese nuclear accident I think but I never gave it a thought and just ordered $200+ of nova, Baked salmon, white fish, sable, sturgeon and accoutrements as I always do on MD.

It was an embarrassment as well as an event spoiler for my extended family. What a waste. All but the nova went in the garbage after we put out the platters.

No I didn't call them. I don't know why.

-----
Russ & Daughters
179 E Houston St, New York, NY 10002

[erica]

I am a little mystified as to why the nuclear accident would affect R&D fish. Which of the fish you mentioned comes from anywhere near Japan?

[sugartoof]

I doubt any of their fish comes from Japan, but I wouldn't be shocked if people weren't eating much fish in the weeks after.

[pbjluver]

For the amount of money spent, I would have called the store the next morning, ask to speak to the boss/owner and tell him/her what was wrong. Let them know you were not happy and thank God no one got sick.

Next year, check out Barney Greengrass.

[littlejoker]

No. I went there, they put together the order while I waited and I took a taxi back the 2 miles or so to my apartment. Even the tuna salad I bought for a picky nephew tasted old. My guess is their business had fallen off drastically that week but they still sold what they had on hand. That would account for the nova being good because it's their best seller.

[sugartoof]

Makes sense, but if that's the case, you know it was a fluke thing due to the circumstances.

Sure, a fish purveyor should keep their product fresh, and eat the decline in business instead, but the other possibility is business went up around mothers day, and anticipating fears of fish, they had dropped down their orders, and then ended up selling less than prime product to meet demand. Who knows? Truthfully, if all of it tasted off, it does sound like something went wrong during pick-up.

The thing to do would have been taking it up with the management even this week, before posting. Then you would at least know if it was a freak incident, or outright negligence worth spreading the word about.

[penthouse pup]

Quite an indictment: was the food delivered or shipped? Did you carry it home and if so, was the day very hot? Seems hard to fathom that all of the items but for one would have been spoiled except from exposure to high temperature.

My beef with the fish slicers is that they rarely slice the smoked salmon thinly enough but that's another story.