Will the Lobster bite back?
We pulled out of the parking lot at the
On my own personal bucket list (which I have had for 9 years now) I have as #67, “Eat a Maine Lobster, in
Anyway, the two hour trip went pretty quick and we found our hotel for the night, The La Quinta Inn on
When I set this goal of enjoying a
We had called ahead to add our name to the waiting list, but we didn’t have to wait more than 5 minutes before we were seated. I would like to say that Margo and I took lots of pictures, documenting the décor, and outside of the restaurant, the wait staff, and the food. But, we had had a full day and taking pictures didn’t enter into our minds. We will have to do better on subsequent trips. Anyway, we got seated, got our drinks, and soon ordered. I got a small lobster, 1 ½ lbs. I didn’t want to over do it, even if I liked it. My Dad was allergic to shrimp. I had previously eaten both shrimp and lobster, and never suffered any ill effects. But, my stomach was still unsure about all of this. There is even something about the smell of seafood that seems to set me off. Margo got a steak.
The waitress came back in short order with our meals. Now I had found instructions on how to eat a lobster. My only other experience had been with a tail, and that wasn’t very difficult to figure out. Now, I just looked at it and thought, “Where do I start?” I had casually, but with fore thought, mentioned to my waitress that this was my first lobster. So the blank look on my face gave her a hint, and she asked if I needed help. Yes, I do. So she did some of the work, and told me what parts were edible (most anything you can dig out), and what to avoid. (Most anything that didn’t look white). So after a quick minute culinary tour, I was ready to start.
Margo was enjoying the whole spectacle of things. I could not tell if she was rooting for a huge smile on my face, or projectile vomiting. But, after the first couple of bites she had her answer. “Ahhhh, Nothing special” The verdict was in. I just don’t care for Lobster. But, I had ordered it and it wasn’t bad so I finished most of the meat, dunking each piece in the butter sauce provided. The only thing left was to discover if my stomach would reject this unfamiliar meal.
We paid (I left a nice tip) and continued with our original plan for the evening. We walked across the street and headed in the
That was the end of our night in
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Back to the restaurant. Margo and I found the service good and we quickly forgot we were on a ship. We didn’t notice any movement, but there was no weather either. What we did notice were the views. The bay at night, is particularly striking.
They serve steaks and other fare, in addition to the seafood. I thought the prices were a little steep, but about what you would expect from a downtown steakhouse. It looks to be a great place to impress a date. You are issued a ticket when you pull into the parking lot. You need to have that validated, at the restaurant (after you eat) or else there is a fee. You are only allowed a few hours of free parking even with validation.
I doubt that we would go out of our way to go back. The food is just too pricey for everyday. But, we wouldn’t avoid it either, if it were a special occasion. It is certainly worth experiencing once!
With that as a qualifier we still thought this was a nice hotel. It was clean, comfortable, new looking, and the people were helpful. We had no trouble sleeping, but as tired as we were that was probably not going to be a problem anywhere. La Quinta routinely provides complimentary shampoo and other toiletries, which can come in handy. We left happy.
There were just a couple of things that I did not like. First, I thought it was a tad expensive, at $145 for the night. Leave Season was over in Maine, so I would have expected prices to be down. The second, was actually getting to the hotel. Because of the one way streets you had to take a roundabout approach to get to it. But, that was pretty minor.
My best measurement of a hotel is the answer to the question “Would I stay here again?” My answer, “Probably”. The only thing that would stop me was price. Margo and I were looking for a business level hotel, as we didn’t want any “hotel adventures” on this trip. You have to expect to pay a little more for that. The La Quinta offered the best value for that service we could find. So unless a Holiday Inn Express or similar had a better price, I would be back.
