It is no fun, no pleasure to write a negative review. People put their lives, their hearts, their fortunes into these places; calling foul in a public forum is a valuable service, but there is no joy in spreading the negativity. Some places are just out of whack, though, in a way that can be hard to see from inside the thousand complications that is running a restaurant (especially one where the team has been working together for seventeen years in the same space). I hope that this week's review of The Slide Inn is not taken as a malicious attack. It is a note of very real concern from someone who spent nearly $150 and felt very little value in return, in a city where that is a huge sum and a deadly result.

The Slide Inn has one thing right — a devoted, very present, and hard-working husband-and-wife team — but there are many fundamental issues that need sorting out, and they affect nearly every aspect of the customer experience. A casual restaurant could thrive at this priceless Buckman location, but I truly believe the owners must take in a consulting chef and restaurateur, and take their advice to heart.

Here are some photographs of the food we had on our visits, after the jump.