Black Friday Lunch Date at Lona by Chef Richard Sandoval Lunch Was a Mess | Cute Sweater Set + Chunky Scarf + Poléne

On this day of Black Friday my hubs and I like to go out to brunch. We were exceptionally exhausted after Thanksgiving, but woke up today feeling refreshed and springy. Today was a rather "winter like" day meaning it was gray, cold and raining so I opted for something warm to wear. I got a few over-sized scarves from my mother for Christmas either last year or the year before and they had my eye today. We decided to go out to Lona by Richard Sandoval on Water Street for lunch. Now, I have only been here one time and it was on opening day. I always like to be really clear about when and why I am at a restaurant because if it is a hosted media or influencer event then that affects not only the experience, but how I am treated. I personally like to return to restaurants after the opening day because on opening day everyone is usually on their best behavior.

Lona has been open for about four months now and while my initial opening day experience was great, today was not. I was actually the first customer of the day. We were seated at an insanely small two seat table next to a wall in a very dark area across from the bar despite the fact that the entire restaurant was empty. Once food started coming out, literally just appetizers and my cocktail there was no room on the table for all of it. So, I asked for a different table. I am not sure why we were seated there in the first place.

Now, I ordered a ceviche to start along with queso fundido. Well, the ceviche was not made today. It was rancid. It didn't smell rancid, but it had been clearly dressed up, hit with fresh pepper, guacamole , radishes and microgreens. It looked how it was supposed to look at first glance. When I tasted it it was clearly past its expiration date, the shrimp were rancid and the juices were muddy in the ceviche. I had my husband taste it lol, because I was unsure I tasted it right. He spat it out in disgust. So, we had the waiter take that back. The thing that really bothered me was that it was evident it wasn't made today and yesterday was Thanksgiving and the restaurant may not have been open, so when was it made and why did the chef think it was ok to serve old, rancid, milky seafood to people? I was so disappointed and the waiter and manager apologized, but they didn't look shocked. The waiter asked if we wanted another one made and it was like "no, even if it was made fresh the whole dinner is ruined because we both have rancid shrimp taste in our mouths".

My burger, it was plated nicely. A lot of places do not do a good job plating bun-less burgers to be honest. It came out looking fire, but it was about the same level of disappointment as the ceviche. It was a smash burger, so you can't request it to be cooked at a certain temperature. I like smash burgers, but these were two frozen patties that had been smashed and over cooked into a grill then plated with bacon on top. It was about the texture of old clothes. It was dry AF and even my knife could barely cut it. Usually, my Black Friday brunches are great, but this one was a major fail.

The Esquites were great, the Queso Fundido also great and tacos great (over priced per taco at 6$ each). My second visit was so different from the first and that is very sad because I love ceviche so much and I remember thinking this was one of the best I had ever had. I just can't get over the fact that they knowingly served seafood that was days old.