Betty's Wok and Noodle

Oh Dear. I so wanted to like this place.

We needed food before the three hour marathon of watching Henry Rollins 'speak his words' at Berklee on Sunday night.

The theme is all screwed up.

Photos of Betty adorn the place and she looks like a your archetypal 50's housewife, complimented with period (although actually replica) typography. It's a great schtick.

So it's a bummer that the decor is slightly retro but not enough to do the theme justice, and certainly not ground-breaking enough for me to 'get over myself'.

Food. Latin-Asian fusion. Two words. Fuck that.

Juan-Ton is undeniably funny, but it does not make it edible.

Listen up people, stop using fusion as an excuse to put incompatible shit together. Unless you are performing spinal surgery, or are a nuclear particles dude you have no reason to use the word.

And as bad as fusion is for food, it's even worse for drinks.

I had a Sak-it-to-me Punch. Why? Obviously because it's funny. The menu promised sake and fresh citrus fruits. It tasted like ass. Pineapple is not a citrus fruit. (I looked it up in Wikipedia - and that's never wrong is it?).

Anne had something that tasted like fizzy curry. Tamarind and chunks of ginger. Is someone taking the piss?

Latin-Asian-Diner-Retro-Hyphen-crazy.

Luckily it is by the Symphony Hall, so there's lots of kids (probably named Tarquin and Tamsin) in dinner jackets and bow-ties.

I digress.

For food we all had noodles, with veg and meat.

Mine was so, so (Chicken and Hoisin).

Anne's was short on noodles and taste. You do not mix mint and peanuts. Ever had a minty peanut butter chocolate bar? No, because it tastes terrible.

3rd diner was our friend Beck. She looks like Betty, loves the theme, and seems to be "Never Wrong™" so of course she's going to like the food. She had beef noodles in a Thai sauce. And she liked their lemonade.

That said, we had a fun time talking about tuxedoes, the restaurant mirrors and our server who looked like Frank the cap-wearing writer in 30 Rock. And the check was reasonable.

Combining two things I love; the food of Wagamama with the feel of a 50's diner could be much much better.

Note I didn't write mucho mucho - because the Latin thing needs to be dropped like the Selena Fan Club.
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