When Les Claypool’s Oddity Faire tour came to play at the recently opened House of Blues, I invited my father and a favorite ex-boyfriend to accompany me. Our first stop was their on-site restaurant titled, aptly “House of Blues Boston Dining”. My father, being Texan, jumped on the opportunity to eat something “southern” so in we went. The décor was pretty straightforward: warm oak tables and bar, walls lined with the child labor trophies many call modern art.

To start things off we ordered the “Crispy Catfish Nuggets with Spicy Tartar Sauce and Sweet Potato Fries” ($9). These twenty or so light and golden bite sized hunks of good sweet bottom sucker fillet were accompanied with the kicked-up tartar sauce and a fistful of French-fried sweet potatas. These bright orange string-cut fries were balanced by a short dash of salt and all three of us were quite pleased by this appetizer.

After this we each had a crock of Cajun Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo with white rice ($6). The gumbo’s consistency was a weird mix of immature jello and too much okra “offal”. The flavors were flaccid and the sole option of Tabasco had me wishing I had brought my spice collection with me. I may be partial to oral heat, but there was nary a speck of spiciness in the whole crock. Along with the gumbo we followed the gushing advice of our waitress and ordered the Skillet Baked Rosemary Cornbread ($7). The thing was aptly named with the rosemary listed before the cornbread because there was so much of that powerful spice mixed in that we could not even taste the cornbread rendering it limitedly edible. To top is off- the portion was puny! At about 9 inches in diameter, it divides into only 4 medium pieces. I’m sorry but when Jiffy Mix offers an entire box of cornbread mix for 50 cents then that is just not respectful of your customers in these times. That and please respect that sometimes, when it comes to classics, simplicity is appreciated.

For an entrée, I selected a White Russian ($10) and we shared the Bucket of Clam Strips with Spicy Tartar Sauce and French Fries ($13). We should have known better than to order a New England specialty in a national chain. The clams were so rubbery that my jaw got tired. It wasn’t even in a bucket! We will not get that again.

My advice to explorers of the House of Blues Dining scene is to be adventurous but don’t risk a lot of money. They had quite a variety of things from sandwiches to ribs to desserts and I’m sure they don’t all suck. But if they do I wish to remind you of a deep Fail Family adage- “Don’t go to Ihop for the steak.”