Q: negative

A: My boyfriend and I went here for my birthday dinner last year when we were in Pittsburgh for the weekend. We chose it based on the glowing recommendation we received from the Maitre D' at our hotel. It's in a pretty cool location atop Mount Washington which overlooks all of Pittsburgh. We took the incline plane most of the way up and then a cab from there which was nice. Once you arrive at the restaurant it kind of feels like being in an apartment building. You take an elevator up to the very top to enter the dining room. My first impression of the dining room was that it is huge, crowded, and very early-90's in decor. I felt like I should have teased and sprayed my hair and given my bangs a nice blowout before I put on my shoulder-padded jean jacket to come to this restaurant. The lighting is cheesy, it's a mix of tables and booths, and I am almost positive there was a paper placemat on the table. Needless to say, Monterey Bay sort of felt like what my 6-year-old self always thought "fancy restaurants" were like until I actually was old enough to go to one. Other reviewers don't lie, the view is amazing, but I have to admit it felt like the windows needed washing that night. It was a little hazy. As for the food, it was priced like any fish restaurant--in the mid-$20's-$35 per plate. This is perhaps a personal chip on my shoulder, but I am never impressed by places that offer to butter-sautee or broil fish when that's not the ideal way for it to be prepared. It feels like a way to cater to not-so-savvy diners who don't really appreciate what good fish is. Our portions were ENORMOUS for everything which is annoying because I hate leaving fish uneaten, but it was just too much. It was prepared well, but our sides were pretty unrefined. All in all, not a terrible dining experience, but I was not in love with it either. If you could do half-stars, this would get a 2.5 from me.

Q: negative

A: Sat in the restaurant for 30 minutes without anyone approaching us. My fiance and I were both very hungry and I wanted a cold drink, but no sort of service ever came. We did get at least 5 dirty looks from the wait staff, so if you want to sit for a half hour with nothing but dirty looks from the staff, this is the place for you. Did get to watch football, but the service is a joke. I would avoid at all costs if at all possible.

Q: negative

A: Hilton Monona Terrace has always treated me exceptionally well, so it pains me to give this restaurant such a low score. I ordered the chop salad and the ceviche. The chopped salad was delicious - finely chopped, tasty blue cheese, zesty dressing. Then the scallop ceviche came out ... the scallops were canned, the avocado was the type you fine in a bag that gets squeezed out, and there were 2 sprigs of cilantro. By far the worst ceviche I've ever had, and after 2 bites - my stomache turned. Maybe the other dishes are better, but my ruling is this is just another hotel restaurant/bar. There is better food not a half mile down the street at Graze and Et Tiot. I will walk there next time.

Q: negative

A:
last saturday some of my girls and i had dinner at encore's restaurant switch in las vegas. i can't really say that the food was that great for the price, but hey it's vegas so you have to expect to spend a little more. the "thing" about switch is that every 30 minutes or so the atmosphere changes. sections of the walls change and as does the center part of the ceiling. even though it was neat, it definitely interrupted our dinner conversation because as it started to change, the lights would dim or get brighter and harmonious music would start which sort of made you stop and look. we were there long enough to see 3 different "scenes." each time the music started we felt like we were in a disney world show or ride... a little cheese. speaking of cheese, i was the only one who didn't like her meal. and usually if something is "eh" i'd eat it anyway, but after 3 bites, i just couldn't. i decided to start with the bibb lettuce & mozzarella salad - which turned out to be a good choice because i didn't eat my vegetarian lasagnette. the thing is that i had asked if the lasagnette was really cheesy b/c it was served with a cheese fondue sauce. our waiter told me that it wasn't very cheesy and that the sauce was just on the bottom of the plate so that's why i went with it. i sort of knew when it came out and before i tried it that it wasn't going to be good... sad. i tried it and it basically tasted like a ton of cheese - and not good kind. i could barely tell that there was pasta noodles or vegetables in it! the salad was really good though, the white balsamic vinaigrette was a little too tart, but overall tasty with a good amount of mozzarella. the lasagnette was taken off of the bill and i was offered something else, but i decided to have another glass of wine and an espresso martini in place of it - only b/c it was vegas. the rest of the girls were mostly satisfied with what they ordered - and yes i totally had food envy. the table had a nice spread of the sea bass (with yellow tomato coulis, braised fennel, basil-parsley pesto,) sea scallops (with eggplant ratatouille, sweet pea ver-jus sauce) and the lobster salad (artichoke, asparagus, avocado, truffle vinaigrette.) the lobster salad wasn't what you thought though - no lettuce. from my side of the table it looked like a big scoop of guacamole with lobster on top. at least she got a side of the mac & cheese to make up for it. since we were celebrating two birthdays we were treated with a free dessert. we were tricked though b/c we were asked what we wanted and they came out with two different desserts, one we had to pay for. i don't know why they didn't just give us the one we wanted for free. so we nibbled on the milk chocolate crunch cake (toasted hazelnut feuillantine, devil's food cake, port wine cherries) and the peach cobbler tart (streusel, apricot sorbet.) i thought that i was going to like the crunch cake more, but the peach cobbler was a pleasant surprise. if it weren't for the company i was keeping, i think that overall i'd be a little disappointed. i've been to restaurants and paid way less and was way more happy. i do love the encore though - it's so pretty and clean. i'll just have to go back and try botero which is where we originally had reservations, but there was some event going on so we switched restaurants, no pun intended. http://notomatoesplease.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/switchlasvegas/