Richtree Rant

Let me just start by saying, the only reason I went to this place tonight is because I'd won a $50 gift card at bowlathon. Otherwise, I avoid Richtree like the plague.

The very concept of this chain offends me. It's basically an overpriced cafeteria - $6 for a saucer sized plate for your salad, for example. AND they tack on a service charge. FOR WHAT?! It's not table service!! I hate you Richtree!! Hate. It's not that the food is horrible. It's just mediocre at best, which doesn't justify what they charge.

I went with a spinach and cheese ricotta in a rosé sauce, with a spinach salad and chickpea salad on the side. Maybe they could use that service charge to pay someone to tear the giant spinach leaves into human mouth size pieces. Or toss the greens in the dressing evenly. The chickpea salad was pretty good though, with lots of olives in the mix.The pasta sauce was super salty and the ravioli themselves were unusually chewy. I didn't finish it.

For dessert, I went with a scoop of espresso flake ice cream. By far, the best part of the meal. Likely because it was store bought. The coffee flavour was nice and strong, and I enjoyed the intermittent flakes of dark chocolate in the ice cream. The only quibble I have is that it started melting before I even got it back to the table. :(

I still can't figure out why this place is consistently packed. We got there around 5:30 and there was a huge lineup. There was still a lineup at 10 when we went back to retrieve the pastries from B's work that we'd been made to check, and had forgotten on our way out. Even though they were still open and we'd only left a few hours earlier, they threw our food out.

Hate.