Twice this week, I’ve found my taste buds tantalized by lush, descriptive menus. Then, my food comes. I prepare to take that much awaited first bite and WHAM! My cravings are beaten into submission all because the menu description was way off the mark.
CASE 1: Bonfire’s Jerk Pork Sandwich
Last Thursday, the Bonfire Lounge on SE Stark was the source of my affliction. It started with the following menu description:
Jerk Pork Sandwich. House jerked shredded pork with lettuce, tomatoes and onions. Served on a hoagie with a side of our Caribbean coleslaw and Sweet potato fries.
Mmmm. I craved that bold Carribean flavor profile — a bouquet of Scotch Bonnet peppers, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, onion, nutmeg, and garlic. But what I got was just plain ‘ol pork seasoned with salt, pepper, a little garlic and grilled to perfection.
Yes, it was grilled to perfection. But, it was NOT Jerk. Nothing about my pork sandwich even remotely resembled Jerk.
CASE 2: Marriott’s Seared Salmon Sandwich
This evening, it was a restaurant at the Sea-Tac Marriot that led me into culinary disillusionment. The menu item: Seared Salmon Sandwich.
I expected the color and texture of my salmon to be something like this:
Unfortunately, it looked a little more like this:

I am inclined to believe these restaurateurs are liars. However, I am open to other possibilities.
- Classic Bait-and-Switch strategy.
- Cooks are food-illiterate and need a refresher course in cooking 101.
- Menu writer assumes customer is food-illiterate and will write just about anything to lure the unsuspecting diner into buying the dish.














