T.Y. Harbor

I decided to try out T.Y. Harbor last week. The place is on Tennozu Isle, is "contemporary American", and they have their own beer. I was expecting some really fine food, but on the whole I was somewhat disappointed. Not painfully disappointed, but the food and the beer were fairly blah-, especially for the price. The view was quite nice though, and the service was fine.


I see this alot with "branded" restaurant chains. These companies use classic business strategy: standardize a core product in this case a core menu,  then modify the brand with a different name, different decorations, nice location, and other "branding" elements. All industries do this, from cars ( create a standard car, modify frame, seats etc) to accounting firms. In the food industry what this leads to is generally bland food at a high price. Of course it does not have to be this way, but the trend is for companies to pay more attention to "branding" elements rather than actual food quality.

I tried the seasonal, wheat, pale ale, amber, and dark. They were all drinkable, and probably quite accessible but lacked the depth that I am used to. The wheat was the best, the PA was a bit ugly. Food wise the bread, cesar salad, seared shrimp, pizza, and wings. None of it was unpalatable or poorly made, but it was all just standard and uninteresting. If I want that Ill make it myself.