It was a tough day for lunch in Raleigh today--the meal eluded me for several hours as I scoured the city, searching for a lunch spot to call my own.

My first lunch attempt of the day took place at Neomonde, a Middle Eastern restaurant that has gotten some great reviews and has even won a "Best in the Triangle Award" from the Independent Weekly. I arrived there at 11:00 a.m. on the dot, anticipating my first taste of their allegedly delectable food. The restaurant was deserted. I placed my order, then sat down and waited. Twenty five minutes later, my food still hadn't arrived, although a gaggle of customers who had poured in at about 11:20 were already being served their lunch entrees.

I had to wait in line for about five minutes to even ask about my order, which, apparently had never made it to the kitchen. Several other customers had the same complaint. No staff member could figure out what had gone wrong, but they invited us to get back in line and place our orders again. Instead, I chose to ask for a refund. It only took me another five minutes or so to get it, and then I hit the road again in search of lunch.

My second stop, Dos Taquitos Centro in Downtown Raleigh was locked tight. Turns out that it doesn't serve lunch on weekends (and doesn't serve dinner on weekdays, except Thursday and Friday). Oooops.

At this point, it was past 1:00 p.m. and I was desperately hungry. Lucky for me, Loco Pops has a new Raleigh location where I treated myself to a Mexican chocolate-flavored popsicle. Delicious.

Now much happier, but still hungry, I sped on down to the State Farmers' Market, where I bought four quarts of terrific strawberries from the Lee Farms' stand. I gorged on them until I was full. My lunchtime was finally over!

If you have any lunchtime strikeouts of your own, tell me about them!