I was pushed to submit a mediocre paper to a conference. To my surprise it was accepted. How to save face?
How to save face?  Have more high quality papers than poor ones.  People understand that a student's first paper is not necessarily outstanding, especially if his/her supervisor is more about quantity than quality. So it reflects more badly on your supervisor than you as long as you have the 'student' badge on.  However, you can only wear the 'student' badge for so long.  So, aim to get better papers published.

Personally, when I glance at a person's CV, I only look for the best publications.  That's what I judge him/her on.   

In summary, people remember successes or high quality papers or those with impact. 

Aside: in my area, there is a paper in a poor venue with 10K+ cites.  In contrast, lots of high quality papers have zero citation. Don't despair, there is hope!