Michael Smith Substitution Policy

The integrity of the ingredients we use at Michael Smith and Extra Virgin are very important to us. We use high quality meat, fish and seafood, the latter two flown in several times a week from both Steve & Mike's Seafood in San Francisco and Fortune Fish Company in Chicago. We spend thousands of dollars each month on just the shipping charges necessary to bring the freshest fish and seafood to our restaurants. We NEVER substitute inferior quality ingredients in order to save on cost, though we may occasionally substitute a menu-listed fish or seafood item with one of similar quality and flavor/texture profile under certain circumstances (see below). We expend considerable expense and resource to print our menus daily and in many cases, we may choose not to waste the resources necessary to reprint our menus if we expect to receive the correct fish or seafood product the next day.

There may be several circumstances where we cannot serve the fish or seafood that is printed on the menu.

For example:

• We may have received inferior quality forcing us to return it after the day's menus have been printed.
• Fishing boundaries are closed or restricted due to weather absent notice to us.
• Federal and state laws require catch limits in many fishing boundaries.
  Once the limits are reached, the boundaries are closed for the season, though we're seldom given advance notice.

Our servers are all consummate professionals, yet we continuously train them in the art of professional food service, and we believe the results are clearly experienced by our restaurants' patrons, each and every day. These service professionals all know the importance of disclosing substitutions on our menu to our customers, and each understands our policy and the consequences of nondisclosure.