Common Plea had been recommended on this newsgroup a few times and I went about two or three months and had a nice meal, so this weekend I decided to take my parents there for my father's birthday. Four of us went Saturday night and I was keenly disappointed. The upstairs was taken over for a party and we ate in a dining room downstairs off the bar. Perhaps the problem was related to a large party. I suspect that the chef was so busy with the party that there was no one to cook food for the people ordering in the smaller dining room downstairs. Anything that was prepared in advance, e.g., the soup was acceptable. On the other hand, anything made to order was simply *awful.* The ingredients were of high quality, but the preparation was considerably worse than I could have done and I do not consider myself a good cook. I ordered the Portobello mushroom appetizer. It came much later than the other people's order of marinated mushrooms. I expected it to taste *better* that there little button mushrooms, but it was burned and had no flavor, no sauce. My mother wanted me to send it back, but I would not. I did not want to make a "scene." The food preparation only got worse. My husband ordered the chicken and sausage. The sausage was barely cooked, tasted bad, and gave him a stomach ache (the next day). He brought the sausage home since he did not want to eat it and even our dog wouldn't eat it! I ordered the cajun shrimp and the sauce was so hot as to be impossible to eat, but the taste wasn't good--only hot. Please do not think I don't like spicy food. I can stand very spicy food. This was just awful. The stuffed clams were bland, very little clams, but we got lots of them--I ordered them, and they gave me extra at another time when everyone else got them. My mother's scallops and lobster were served with no juices, no sauce, nothing. So why did we not complain about the awful food? Well the server was very nice... .. they were so pleasant, and it was my father's birthday, I just did not want to fuss. They even brought an unsolicited slice of cheesecake to the table in honor of his birthday (they overheard us discussing it). Conclusion? I've eaten very well there. They were very busy so they clearly have a devoted clientele. The food was not just mediocre--it was down right terrible, as if cooked by someone who had never cooked before at all. Clearly they could not accommodate the people who were coming in. Maybe the souschef or the chef was ill and combined with the large party upstairs, they could not cope in the kitchen. In which case they should have admitted it, sent us away or at least warned us and given us the option of leaving or saying "only order prepared food."
Pittsburgh, PA