I love dim sum. When I moved to Austin, I was lucky enough to discover a place called Marco Pollo, which was in the Clarion Inn right off the Oltorf exict on 35 south. Dim sum could not possibly be better than that. For those of you who never got the chance to try it, I'm so very sorry. \r
Tragically, Marco Pollo closed about a month ago, and I thought I would never eat dim sum again. However, a well-intentioned friend persuaded me to go to T&S Seafood this afternoon. This was undoubtedly the biggest mistake of my life. If you like good dim sum, and ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE EVER EATED AT MARCO POLLO, do not, I REPEAT DO NOT eat here. It is horrible. We will provide a few examples:\r
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1. Turnip cakes: At their best, turnip cakes are not my favorite. However, at Marco Pollo, they were moist, flavorful, and well-prepared. At T&S, they had the texture of old bread soaked in water, and tasted like that as well.\r
2. Dumplings: No comparison. They completely lacked flavor, and tasted as though they had been sitting in a vat of oil for 3 days, and had just been warmed up in a sub-par microwave. Horrible.\r
3. Shimp rounds and Crab puffs: You know those cheap chicken nuggets that come in packages of 100 at Sam's Club? Replace the chicken with shrimp and/or crab, and that's what these are. \r
4. BBQ Pork Buns: This was one of our favorites at Marco Pollo, so it hurt even more when we were forced to endure these flimsy, overly-sweet, sparsely-filled ""buns."" If we hadn't been told there was pork in them, we would have guessed they were filled with high fructose corn syrup dyed red; obviously, they use this sweetness to make up for 1) the lack of pork, and 2) the lack of any discernable flavor.\r
5. Egg Cream Buns: We saved the saddest for last. My favorite of all dim sum, egg cream buns have a special place in my heart as sweet, moist, and fluffy. T&S butchered this. There are no words to describe how inferior they were.\r
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Oh...and it was WAY overpriced.
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