Omnivore - Letter to LongHorn

• www.longhornsteakhouse.com

I received this email from a reader (who asked for his name to be withheld). It's not hate mail! It includes a letter he wrote to LongHorn after reading my review two weeks ago. He also comments on one of its sister restaurants, Red Lobster:

Greetings, Dr. Bostock: Among other things I had been following your progress towards your doctorate in depth psychology. Well done and much, much, belated congratulations. And, I have been reading your food and dining reviews for years and years in CL. Food-wise, I had always been wandering in the desert and have continually been led out of the wilderness by your reviews. I've never written before but here is what I just sent to Longhorn Restaurants based on your recent review:

"What the hell ? ? ?

"I just read the review of Mr. Bostock in Atlanta's Creative Loafing of your Piedmont Road, Atlanta, Georgia, restaurant. What do you mean, you would not let them photograph the food? What are you afraid of?: Lack of quality control in your raw ingredients? Lack of quality control of your chef training? Lack of quality control in the kitchen?

"Oh, I get it! I tell you what. I stopped going to Red Lobster more that four years ago when both Red Lobster Restaurants that I patronized — Cordele, Georgia, and Tucker, Georgia, — could not produce the appetizer "Lobster Pizza" as displayed on the menu.

"It became obvious that you tripled the ingredients for the photograph, then skimped on the ingredients when the customer ordered based on the picture. Both of these practices — prohibition of photographs and misleading menu photographs — are "customer-hostile" policies. I'm now adding Longhorn Steakhouse to my list of "not again."...