As I contemplate about what to do this New Year’s Eve, I look back upon the last few years’ festivities.

Last year we spent New Year’s Eve at St. Joe’s on bedrest. (Any attempts to coerce the nurses to smuggle in champagne were fruitless.) Good, if some odd times.

The year before that, we spent it at an awesome party at the Little Radio Warehouse in LA to watch Autolux and a bunch of other bands. The best part was free-flowing alcohol all night and a cover of only $25 per person! Good times, indeed!

But then I came up with the New Year’s Eve we spent at the Orange Hill Restaurant for their annual New Year’s Eve Gala. Easily one of the WORST New Year’s Eves we’ve ever had.

At $100 per person, we expected something decent. What we got were seats at a 10-person table with eight strangers who, by the time we got there, were already well on their way to drunken incoherence. The food came off a buffet table. Again, at $100 per, we expected some sort of semi-fine dining. They gave away cheap hats and noise-makers, and I’m pretty sure revelers line-danced to Achy Breaky Heart. We spent a lot of time outside on the patio and high-tailed it out of there right after midnight. The only good thing about that experience was that we lived just down the hill and were home in five minutes.

So whatever you and yours decide to do this New Year’s Eve, just stay far away from the Orange Hill Restaurant. Stay home and watch Dick Clark, or check out the HOB as Jon suggested. Just don’t bother with Orange Hill.

Unless you’re into line-dancing with a bunch of strangers.