Chowhound, Yelp, and food blogs often serve as an echo chamber for popular restaurants. It gets to the point where you’re afraid to say you didn’t like a place because you know someone is going to get angry at you. But, even if we’re in the minority, if we don’t like a place we should just say so and lend our voices to people with similar tastes who may think they’re the only ones who don’t “get” a trendy eatery. Otherwise, aren’t we just contributing to the tyranny of the majority? Look where that’s gotten us as a country.

This is a really nice review. I think that overall, I come away with a more favorable impression of Perbacco than you do (perhaps because a lunch I had there a few months ago I found to be really good), but a lot of what you’ve said is spot-on, when I compare it to my own experiences. I tried the beet salad on both visits, and while the first time was great (including the beets), the second time was more in line with your description. Similar reaction, too, on the tenderness of the pork shoulder — while I found some parts to be very tender, other parts of it weren’t very tender at all.

The “Lean Cuisine” comment made me laugh. Sometimes I sort of overlook plating issues (usually, good ones catch my attention, whereas average ones just don’t register), but now that you say it, you’re absolutely right. At this price point, they probably ought to have done more with this aspect of the dish.

Anyway, you have a really nice site, so I’m very glad to have run into it.