To Robert Pascal owner, the Chef and Management of the Harbour Inn, St. Micheals MD:

I have tried to contact Mr. Pascal on at least two occations. He has returned my calls to his credit, however his attention to this matter is not a priority in my optionion. Knowing I have had a bad experience, I would be much more proactive in his place.

The experience my husband and I had at your New Year's Eve event was probably the worst I have ever had. The food was for the most part uneatable. The soup, shrimp and lobster bisque looked like a brown broth with a foam on top, the comment at the table was "this does not look like any bisque I have ever had" and let me tell you it did not taste like it either, not good in any way. The next course was the highlight of the meal the salad and from there it went back down hill. The salmon course was so fishy and mushy I could not eat it, and I notice the others at our table left much on their plates as well. The quail course was dry and over-spice, just not good so I did not eat it, why waist calories on something you don't enjoy, is what I always say. The main course was what should have been a filet for the price we paid, but turned out to be a short rib and lobster over risotto. I ate the rib and was it was ok, but the lobster which I usually love had a funny flavor almost like moldy and the risotto tasted like someone dropped the whole jar on thyme in it, just not eatable. Ok, you would think that maybe the chocolate molten cake, the dessert course would have either ice cream or even whipped cream on it, nope, plain and really not that good. We actually had one the night before at the Carpenter Street Saloon, with ice cream and it was delicious. Lastly, was the chocolate covered strawberries, can't mess that up, right? Wrong! The chocolate was way too thick and perhaps not of good quality, needless to say not eaten.

So dinner is over and we are dancing and the band was really nice but the dance floor, not there. I have never been to an event for dancing that did not prove at least a temporary dance floor. While we are dancing the waiters are passing out champagne for the toast. We notice that because we are not at our seat we did not get our glasses. We hail the waiter to tell him, however he does not make it back in time to toast the new year a midnight. WTH! This was typical of the service experience, minimal and not at all attentive or professional. Really not acceptable on any level in my opinion. We saw the manager on duty run by once. We were never asked how anything was and had to hail our waiter anytime we wanted something. Needless to say we did not leave a tip, I don't think I have ever done that. I think this was due to the fact that when we approached the manager about the meal, she refused to take even a portion of our meal off the bill, instead insisting she could only offer a return meal voucher. I was pretty upset that she said she could not contact the owner at that time. So before I contact my credit card company to refute the charge I have called to convey my story, however it seems that no one there seems to care about our experience knowing full well of our disappointment.

The band stopped playing to our continued disappointment right after midnight, another first, were does this ever happen at a NYE party? We noticed at that almost everyone else had abandoned ship by this time so after we made our plea for a fair return compensation we left to finnish celebrating elsewhere.

We spent the next day in town (we are from Annapolis) and I had mentioned to someone who works in town about our experience. Her reply was that the Harbour Inn used to be very good but in recent years has gone down hill. This made sense to me because my husband and I had a wonderful brunch there several years ago, and that is the only reason I agreed to spend our NYE there and spend $300 for the two of us. We could have had a superb meal elsewhere for that amount.

So to everyone working there at the Harbour Inn, Shame on you! Don't be surprised if this letter shows up on Trip Advisor and other social networks. I want other people to know how much they will be ripped of when they visit you.
Amy J.
Annapolis MD

BTW-I never received any response to this email sent in January.