There is a reason restaurant reviewers go to a particular place more than once. Back in 1989, for my mother-in-law's 75th birthday, she wanted to go to L'Auberge. After driving almost an hour and a half to get there through late rush-hour traffic we had a meal I considered pretty bad. There was a veal stew listed in the fixed-price menu that the waitress steered us away from. The lobster bisque was so extremely salty, there must have been a mistake in the kitchen and shouldn't have been served. The much-vaunted plum tart was inedible, in my estimation. My husband was just as disappointed and we have never even considered going back. We have had some disappointing meals in other much-praised restaurants, but they have been in town and didn't require grabbing our passports before heading out to Virginia. And none were as disappointing as this experience. I realize all restaurants have bad days--the chef is sick or on vacation, or who knows what has happened to make the staff jittery. But, at those prices, it doesn't help, particularly when you have to make reservations so far in advance. The following year, we treated my parents-in-law and my aunt, all of whom had birthdays in the same month, to dinner at La Colline. Everyone loved the food and we had a great time.