Isabella's Estiatorio

I have been to Isabella's twice. Once was a few years ago and we remember the awesome chocolate lava cake. We were told that they don't serve that every night, so to call ahead if that was going to be a deal breaker on dining there.
The main reason this restaurant stays on my radar is that they are part of the American Airlines Dining Rewards program (formerly iDine). Basically I get AA miles everytime I dine at this restuarant and all I have to do is use the right credit card to pay for it - one that I have registered with the program. Trying to eat at restaurants with the Dining rewards is something I like when using our limited dining budget to eat out.
The last visit was in July of 2008 to celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary. I called ahead and made sure they had the lava cake for the weekday night we went there. Here's my review:

I don't mind paying money for a good meal, but I want to think afterwards about the food and not the money spent. At Isabella's all I can think about and "remember" is how much it cost me and what little value I think I received for that money. My wife and I ate 1 appertizer, 2 entrees and 2 desserts (no beverage besides water which was free!). The total bill was $115 with tax and tip. I can barely remember what we ate, but do remember we got grilled scallaps for the appetizer which was $12, but only contained two quarter-sized ones - only $6 per bite. The meals were good, but not worth the $30+ price. We both had the chocolate lava cake which is one of the reasons we came back. Unfortunately they ruined the dessert by adding some type of fruity syrup to the cake.

I have a hard time recommending the place when I don't feel the value is there. I believe there has to be better restaurants in the area when paying this type of money. I haven't been to several of these restuarants in the past few years, but would readily try any of them before going back to Isabella's: Fisherman's Inn, 19 West, Fire Fox, Al Capone's Hideaway, St. Charles Place, Ju Rin, Rex's Cork & Fork, etc.