Dear Readers: Mary S. is a good friend, avid foodie, world traveler, and uber-wine gal. She and her husband Tony obviously had a different experience at Pips than we did, but in the spirit of encouraging open and reasoned discourse (and disagreement) for which he is known, ELV brings you her dissent from our generally positive review of Pip’s that ran on KNPR this week.

Dear ELV,

Four of us dined at Pip’s in February. We all like wine, but our collective breaths were taken away by the 400+ % mark-up: $8.00 wine at Costco’s selling for $40. Of the four salads ordered, two were excellent, two were so-so.

Of the four entrees ordered, only one could be called excellent (the fish of the day). The other three were pasta dishes and the three diners said they were mediocre and luke warm to boot.

The waiter’s attempt at opening the $40 bottle of wine we ordered showed that he had no training on how to open a bottle at a table. We won’t go back.

Signed,

Mad at Meretriciousness and Mediocrity Mary S.