Wednesday, May 23, 2007

coast 2827

i am putting a question mark on this place, to join others on my personal 'don't like' list, which includes a couple of milkbars in istanbul. so, don't go to them either, they'll put the price of milk up daily on you just because you keep coming back because you've got a baby to feed, and you're obviously rich cause you're a foreign sucker.

in a nutshell, this is what happened on sunday.

6 female diners order various meals for lunch, ranging from panini-type things to fully-blown burgers with the lot. before you say, hello, here's trouble, please bear in mind we had just been soaking at the day spa and we were so mellow that even i, prickly bitch that i can be, was relaxed, laid-back and loving everyone.

1. the meals took ages to come out.

2. the burgers were burnt. the meat, not the buns. 3 out of 3. burnt. charcoal.

3. the calamari (main we thought, but excused as entree) was a PATHETIC scattering of squid strips on a too-large mound of rocket. for $18.50.

however, the worst thing of it all was the manager who came to our table when we asked to speak to him.

amongst other things, and anchored in a very defensive angry attitude, he told us that:

a] he was sick of people complaining about his prices and his meals

i said to that: 'so this happens alot then?'

b] that there was obviously nothing he could say to make us feel better about this

i said, well actually, bucko*, if you say you won't charge for the calamari, then that would make us feel better. (this was before we the burnt burgers even arrived. he said, no, that he intended to charge for the calamari that had been sent back to the kitchen in disgust. okay, thanks.)

c] that he didn't want our money for the food, and that we weren't to step inside his restaurant ever again (please note contradiction with point b about charging for the calamari. okay we're dealing with someone with some mental problems here. a person who is dealing with LOTS OF COMPLAINTS ABOUT HIS RESTAURANT) (I'd call it a cafe, really.)

so. i ate my chips. i didn't eat my burger, or bacon or anything else that was on the plate. this was a hardship because i don't eat burgers. ever really. and i was looking forward to that burger and had changed my order from linguine with seafood, a more normal choice for me.

i opened the burger up in a nice display so it could be seen by all. i also ate chips from the extra bowl we'd ordered. the chips were nice. i also drained my glass of scotchman's hill chardy. i left $5. on the table. everyone else paid what they felt they should. my burger-eating friends had cut off the burnt bits and managed to eat all theirs. we were starving, and it was 1.30 by the time we ordered.

but i tell you, it left a bad taste in the mouth.

and you know what, i don't think he would have DARED speak to us like that if there was one of us with a fucking Y chromosome. i really don't.



* i didn't say bucko. we were being polite, civilised yet assertive.

4 comments:

Miss N said...

I lurk on blogs - read when I'm meant to be working and now I can add snorting in response to blogs of people I don't know..

Too funny.

Anytime someone mentions the word 'Bucko' I'm instantly taken back to every Happy Days episodes when Richie tries to stand up to someone..

Lad Litter said...

No Melbourne Girl, that manager would have been just as rude no matter what the gender balance at your table. I've had the odd experience of a similar nature, including a cockroach in a main in Chinatown, where the owner insisted we pay for the food we'd eaten before the cockroach's discovery. We didn't and walked out.

Melba said...

Thanks you two, was just going through my own labels and wondered which this one was: question-mark food. And here are two comments I hadn't read. Time stamp not very good, can't even tell what year you dropped by.

Lad Litter, maybe you're right but I suspect with him, not. As a woman, you can tell when a man doesn't like women, or doesn't accept us as 'equal'. There's an extra layer of distaste in the way they respond to a complaint.

Melba said...

Well you two, I have changed my comment time-stamp settings and can see you visited in 2007. So the chance of you happening back this way is slim. But thanks anywhere for the comments.