Problem: What would be an example of an negative review?

Answer: Decor is stark, cold and reminiscent of Crabhouse, not an upscale, overpriced, seafood restaurant. A simple thing like white table cloths would be a decent improvement. Service overall is good, if a bit pretentious. The sommelier is quite nice and her large "silicone pair" is one of the very few warming features in the place. The huge wine selection leaves you with about 5 crappy choices for around $50. The better stuff starts at over $85, with the bulk priced well over $150. I like to have wine with my dinner, not dinner with my wine, so paying $200+ for a wine to go with a fish tale is not what I consider dinner. If I want an Opus One (over $600) I rather focus on that and let the food be just an accompaniment. The food was prepared very well, cooked perfectly. Unfortunately, that is the end of the praise. The dishes are truly uninspired. The entire menu and four preparation methods end up, in retrospect, as being just a gimmick. The entrees are described as being presented with stuff like morel mushrooms, artichoke, white asparagus and whole grain mustard. Do not be fooled, that is NOT a side dish. That is decoration on the plate. If you want a side you have to spring for the $12 rice and beans. I had the cornmeal crusted trout. Perfectly cooked but lacking severely in taste, even in salt. It is no more than a cornmeal crusted fish, some micro greens, a few pieces on asparagus and some trace of mushroom and artichoke. The sentence describing the greens is large than the actual thing. All and all, I felt this place was an overrated, gimmick with few redeeming qualities (the silicone pair notwithstanding). Once is enough for me.

Problem: What would be an example of an negative review?

Answer: If the crime maps and the ghetto bird roaming at night don't scare you away from midtown, hopefully this review will. Here is my list of crazyness I experienced at the infamous Midtown on Main. 1. GHETTO ASS NEIGHBORS: (a) Across from our apartment lived a couple who enjoyed having parties monday-thursday. On the weekdays when people with jobs were asleep, these people would be out on their balcony talking extremely loud. No joke, they always invited another couple who ALWAYS got into a fight. From midnight to 3:30 in the morning we'd hear the couple fight. The man would call her a dumb bitch, an effing c*nt... you name it, he said it. Then he'd leave and you'd hear the woman crying about how it's the last time and she's done putting up with his sh*t. Ok the first time I heard it, it was sad. But every week? really? No respect for herself or the neighbors! (b) To the left of us lived a woman who hung out in her pajamas all day and loved yelling and cussing at her kids. This woman's kids were out of control.... they'd play video games late at night and turn the volume on full blast. They'd shoot airsoft guns at night or honk a blow horn. It was non stop with these kids and it was always super late at night. They were out of control. The dad of this household was missing for a while ( we assume he was locked up)... one night when my husband went to check the mail, he saw the woman making out with some dude at the playground who wasn't her babies daddy!! sketchy sketchy. (c) We lived above these girls who we're disgusting. They would take out their trash and leave it at their door for several days!!! They'd had 4-5 bags sitting outside their door in the heat! The smell was awful. If they decided to throw out the garbage, they'd drag the bags and garbage would be all over the stairs. Sometimes they would leave the bags of garbage at the bottom of the stairs! It was so confusing! Like are you planning on having someone else throw that away for you? (d) There was a random lady who would walk through the complex pushing a shopping cart and crying. Crying really loud. One night, not sure if it was her, but I woke up to someone walking through the complex crying and moaning super loud. Can you say creepy? (e) Our car got vandalized. OK still not convinced this place is terrible? (2) INCOMPETENT STAFF: (a) After our first month living here, we got a notice on our door that we owed over $50 because they gave us the wrong rate. Apparently, the girl who we signed our lease with made a mistake. Um, pretty sure you can just randomly decide that our rent is higher. We signed a contract. We refused and they said ok. (b) Our pool key had difficulty opening the gates to the only 2 pools they decided to keep open. (btw pools are never heated). Sometimes it would take 3-4 people to figure out the gates because everyone's keys didn't work! One lady told me to demand a new key because the office staff was reluctant to give her a new one. I decided to go one day and ask one of the guy's in the office and he kept questioning me like I was lying to him! He kept saying "really? your key isn't working? I bet you it will work for me". OK guy, do you want to accompany me every time I go to the pool? I honestly don't understand why they were so hesitant to give people new keys. (c) One of the maintenance guys is a fricken prick. One time my husband went to pick up a package that was sent to me, and when the girl went to get the package, the maintenance guy questioned my husband and asked "is she even on the lease?". Um what? who are you? Another time they had left a note on everyone's doors saying that everyone had to take down their patio shades and request an approved shade from the office. After receiving this notice, my husband spoke to the office staff TWICE and inquired about the shade. We were told that they had put in a request for a shade for us, and would notify us when one became available. While we waited for our new shade, we received a threat of eviction because we weren't using one of their patio shades! My husband went into the office upset at the threat and the maintenance guy jumps in and basically tells my husband he shouldn't be upset because everyone received a notice about the patio shade. UM okay, again, who are you? The girl in the office apologized for the notice and took out the eviction threat from our file. LASTLY, upon moving out, the manager refused the do a walk through with us. Somehow whenever we were available, no one in the office was. They did the walk through without us and we got charged for a crack in the mirror that was already there when we moved in! LAME. If you still decide to live here, make sure you always make a copy of your rent checks and watch out for bugs. We were clean, but bugs loved popping up everywhere. Also beware of the train that comes right by the complex and blows its horn at 3 in the morning. well, good luck.

Problem: What would be an example of an positive review?

Answer:
Stopped in again here last week. Still love this place. Mathieu is correct in that there is a large focus here on items that are not books or magazines (there really is a lot of random stuff, some of which could make for a cool gift for some one in the US). Personally, I don't really mind all that. I did pick up a great guide here on Quebecois French, as I am trying to familiarize myself with its differences from the French of France. Their magazine selection is great and I've found the staff to be quite helpful.