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This is part 2 of a 3 part series.  Read the first post here about restaurants on rebound…

We now have come to the most disappointing part of this series…restaurants that I once enjoyed, but in the past year – seemed to have lost their magic.  All of these restaurants I have eaten at more than 8-10 times each, so I feel as if I know if something has changed for the worse.

On the way down:

Tallula/Eat Bar: This used to be one of my favorite places to eat in years past.  Every time I’ve been there this year, Tallula has been empty, and EatBar was thriving.  Before last week, the last time I went to EatBar about 6-8 months ago.  It may have been an outlier experience, but this time the food wasn’t that good.  The mini-burgers tasted more like dried sausage and the steak tartare lacked character.  It was decent, but if I want to eat a good mini-burger, I’ll just go to Matchbox.

11th Street: Another watering hole that I used to frequent.  Sometime last year they changed the menu and removed almost everything that we went there for, and haven’t recovered since.  After talking to the manager, a few items have made a return, but somehow they’re not as good as they used to be.  For example, you can’t get just sweet potato fries anymore – they come with regular fries interspersed now.  Other items missing from the menu – mini steak frites.  Please, bring them back!

Liberty Tavern – I don’t know what’s going on with this place, but the last two times I have gone there have been some…umm….interesting odors.  The first time was a distinct vomit smell, and the second time (over a week later) was the overwhelming smell of bleach.  I actually do like the food.  Their Vermont Pizza is one of my favorites, but it’s hard for me to imagine eating it with so much going on in the air.

Any restaurants that have taken a turn for the worse?

Next up is the last of three posts about the new restaurants that I’m excited for as well as some restaurants that I’ve come to love over the past year…