New Restaurant and a New Goal

Went to brunch with the family to celebrate my niece's going away to college (UVA). Good school but a bit heartbreaking as a Hokie... But that's for another blog post. 

The restaurant: 

Mama Chang

First impressions:  Good curb appeal, lots of space and good flow in the restaurant, ambiance was spacious and airy, furnishings were simple yet effective.

Service:  Not good. Waiter did not ask if we had been in the restaurant before, did not ascertain our familiarity with the cuisine or make any recommendations. Also, I would have liked to know how small the small plates were and how big the big plates were. We then had our water delivered to the table and went a long period of time without seeing our waiter again. We were so concerned we wouldn't see the waiter for a long period of time again, the next time we saw him, we rushed through to get our order in without a lot of coordination and ended up ordering multiples of the same dish. When delivering our order, there was confusion with one of the bussers and our waiter had to chase him down to have it re-delivered. By the end of our meal, it got a little less chaotic, but you have to be able to nail the first 10 minutes of service. 

Food:  Just Okay. We ordered a variety of dishes from the wonton soup, lamb skewers, fried chicken, pork belly, eggplant, fried rice, hot pot seafood, and lo mein. The wonton soup was very bland. The wontons themselves were okay, the chicken tasted fresh, however the broth was very tasteless and unseasoned. Three of the meat dishes (chicken, lamb, and pork belly) had the exact same spices down to the same garnish and was too salty for our tastes (table consensus). They were spiced so heavily, they all tasted like the same dish. We had two orders of combination fried rice, one was spiced appropriately, the other tasted unsalted. The lo mein was too salty, the rest of the dishes were adequate, but the fish balls were an enigma. We didn't know if the sauce contained fish or the balls themselves. Not a hit. Also, being with a group of Asians, they noticed that the meat dishes did not automatically come with a side of rice. It's almost imperative you order the fried rice. A more descriptive menu would probably solve a lot of issues.

Overall:  Wouldn't go out of my way to eat here again. It is rather difficult to get reservations to this place, so I'd let this restaurant play hard to get and just go to Peking Gourmet Inn.

The Goal:

My brother-in-law (barber cheater) brought up the idea of running a 5K before the year ends. So, we decided to do the Navy Federal 5K at the end of September... So, with less than two months to train, it should be interesting. If nothing else, I did need a good distance regimen to help with the weight loss, so it's a good thing. Training starts Monday! 

Until then everyone, keep moving!