Local restaurant, supposedly "second best restaurant in the world", which is quite a claim. No, not been there - much too upmarket for me.
Local woman didn't like it and has gone to the paper.
www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Birthday-mum-Judy-Metliss-8217-incredible/story-25944109-detail/story.html
Have you ever had the sense that "fine dining" is a bit Emperor's New Clothes, or do we think there was in this case, perhaps, shall we say a mismatch of expectations?
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>>shall we say a mismatch of expectations?
>>
Or taste, I enjoy food from many cultures but there are others that I do not like. If you are going to to try a style of food which you are not familiar with it is not guaranteed that you will enjoy it. We are what some would describe as plebs, we have tried fine dining on a couple of occasions, did not enjoy it and will not repeat the experience by choice.
We would not complain if something was not to our taste, that is our problem.
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the line where they said they preferred to eat at KFC was sufficient explanation.
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I'm sure it would be uncharitable to infer anything in this case, but it's certainly true of my considerably older mother-in-law (she's 80) that she complains that almost no food these days has any taste, and seems to endlessly look for "tomatoes like they used to be" and so on. It never seems to occur to her that it might be her own taste sensation has diminished with age, and that's not something you can really comment on in polite conversation.
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Next door gave us some home grown tomatoes last year, tiny little things, and I just hadn't realised how tasteless supermarket ones were.
I've had a handful of posh nosh experiences and only once wasn't impressed, it was a newly opened ex-country pub in Berkshire and I think at the time it simply had ideas above it's station - it just seemed like a very very expensive pub meal with small portions on massive plates. It's still there, doing the same stuff, so it must be doing something right - but I wouldn't go back there. Horses for course I suppose.
Last edited by: smokie on Fri 30 Jan 15 at 09:34
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>>Next door gave us some home grown tomatoes last year, tiny little things,
>> and I just hadn't realised how tasteless supermarket ones were.
I binned some yesterday. Under ripe, very tough skins and tasteless.
>>
Tomatoes and runner beans are two things well worth growing for the taste.
We have some alpine strawberries. They are taste bombs, so tiny, about the size of petit pois, it seems impossible that they can generate the taste of strawberries.
Sadly our local urban farm has stopped PYO asparagus but does still grow it.
Bringing home a bag full bags of it for lunch was a real joy.
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>> it just seemed like a very very expensive pub
>> meal with small portions on massive plates.
That's how you can tell it's a really good meal. And the silly little artistic trails of sauce piped onto the otherwise empty expanse of bare plate.
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>> it just seemed like a very very expensive pub meal with small portions on massive plates.
I think we've all been to one of those at some point. One of my sister's took the family out for a meal to a "lovely" pub one evening. Everyone except her (she always thought of herself as a snob - lol) said how rubbish the food was and we left still feeling hungry. We ended up stopping off at a fish & chip shop on the way home to fill up our bellies.
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I have no experience of this specific restaurant but do once year or so go to a Michelin star restaurant near us. If your expectations are to be stuffed full and get a lot of food for your buck then you are missing the point of these sort of places. It's about the taste and the matching of food and wine and the sense of occasion. While some of the complaint here was about the taste a lot was directed at the characteristics of fine dining. In our own case we've generally had a wonderful meal locally and we don't judge the value just on the portion sizes. I am not a food snob and will happily down a KFC when that is appropriate, but probably not for a special occasion! Back to this case I think there is a mismatch of expectations as Crankcase says. Top end of anything (not least cars) will appear bad value to someone who just doesn't click with what is on offer.
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Since she has volunteered that she is an english teacher - it may be interesting to see AC do a critical review of her letter.
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" It’s like what stiletto heels are ....
I feel like I should let people know "
Incorrect and excessive use of "like". She makes her points quite well, albeit with excessively forensic analogy.
B+
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D-
She should have said that at the time instead of eating it and complaining afterwards.
She was asked....
Pat
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www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g186430-d3155644-r206839035-Ty_Golchi-Bangor_Gwynedd_North_Wales_Wales.html#REVIEWS
This little restaurant is down the road....only been there a couple of times, once to a very good evening gig. It's owned by a well known stand up comic. His response to the review went viral around here for a while.
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Good one.
Is it just me that delights in going onto trip advisor, choosing a town and then taking a wicked pleasure in reading the worst reviews for amusement purposes?
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>> Is it just me that delights in going onto trip advisor, choosing a town and
>> then taking a wicked pleasure in reading the worst reviews for amusement purposes?
>>
No.
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Exactly Pat. And I wonder when someone, unbidden, uses the stilted term fine dining. Reminds me of Wags putting it on.
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These days, the words 'fine dining' are a turn off to me. As mentioned earlier, the words tend mean oversized plates, small portions and a pretentious attitude.
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A restaurant-owning friend of mine had a long, damning, untrue and malicious Trip Advisor review left by a girl who had never visited the place due to an argument over parking outside the village shop.
Whilst it is possible to get a review removed, its very difficult and takes quite some time.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Fri 30 Jan 15 at 13:53
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I did once eat at a proper gourmet restaurant in Paris, a small place owned and run by a gay male couple, round the corner from the pied-a-terre of a well-heeled cousin of Herself.
It's true that the portions were small, and that they were beautifully presented, each plate a work of art (like a Picasso or Miró doodle). Of course everything tasted very good indeed.
It makes me uneasy though to feel I ought to have shaved and changed into something elegant just to get supper in a resto. Too much like hard work. Especially when you can get something equally excellent for a quarter of the price in another place.
Call me idle, stingy, scruffy and poor if you like. I am all those things. But they don't mean I can't tell the difference between decent nosh and pig swill.
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>> She should have said that at the time instead of eating it and complaining afterwards.
I kind of agree. Having said that another person might have been nervous, or not wanting to make a scene etc. etc.
What makes it bang out of order is that she sent it all to the newspaper. That's not someone seeking to make a discrete complaint, that's someone out for their 15 minutes.
Also, as far as I could make out, it wasn't what her dish that was the problem in a sea of otherwise acceptable dishes, it was that she didn't like the style of food that this particular restaurant advertises itself as providing.
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My daughter wants to take us to that very place, but I won't let her. The possibility of it's being disappointing at a cost of several hundred pounds to her is not worth risking.
I have been to a number of serious restaurants at corporate expense and enjoyed the experience for the most part - but for me personally, that is what they are for - business entertaining, or private individuals to whom money is not a problem.
Personal choice of course but I get get better value out of £100+ a nob (they must have restrianed themselves to get out for under £200).
Unfortunately my favourite restaurant is a long way from where I live...goo.gl/qqgD5W
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>> Personal choice of course but I get get better value out of £100+ a nob
>> (they must have restrianed themselves to get out for under £200).
I went to a Michelin 1* a while ago, they offered a fixed price 5 course taster menu that included a glass of house wine. Two of us came out 160 quid lighter, which was the expected sum. Sure the portions were not large, but they were beautifully presented, interesting and tasty and carefully and considerately served*
160 quid for a an enjoyable and interesting experience for two? yes good value for money.
* You also pay for the staff. Good waiting staff are a godsend, they can make a classy experience without making it stuffy and pretentious.
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If that was £160 for two you did well. The 10 courser at Midsummer is £105, and another £80 for the flight of wine.
A compromise would be the 7 course at £82.50 + £65. Maybe worth it for some people but I don't think my palate is good enough to merit that.
www.midsummerhouse.co.uk/flight-of-wines
I take your point about service - Purnell's in Brum with a table of 10 was superb with what must have been half the team plonking the dishes down almost simultaneously, with a description of each as it came. And all the right way round :)
Now I'm on the pension I'm more likely to be in Wetherspoons.
Whenever restaurant service is mentioned it reminds me of this...Yorkshire Airlines.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VLYpKGVBUg
Last edited by: Manatee on Fri 30 Jan 15 at 15:38
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>> She should have said that at the time instead of eating it and complaining afterwards.
Eggzackly.
Why do people do this?
There was a story in the Torygraph recently about a man who had been to a rugby match at Twickenham and was offended by what he thought was some homophobic abuse hurled at the ref. Instead of complaining to a steward he went home and wrote to The Grauniad. Justice was eventually served, but why not complain on the spot?
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There is a local Indian to me that does an "eat all you want buffet" for £9.99 and surprisingly for these types of places, the food is really really tasty and there is always a couple of new curries to try. And its not just "Westernised " curries.
I always leave there full and throroughly satisfied with the taste, the experience etc.
So that then becomes my starting point for any other meal out - yes I like to go out elsewhere for a steak or Italian etc but when it comes to going out to a restaurant in Glasgow for a "meal" I struggle to ever feel that I have received value for money.
Similarly, I can buy a multipack of beer from Asda and each bottle can work out as low as 50p. The same bottle in a pub in the centre of Glasgow will be £3.50. Thus the reason me and my mates prefer to go to each others houses for an evening drinking rather than out to a pub!
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And going back to the OP, how many people on here give honest feedback when in a restaurant you are asked "is everything alright Sir"??
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>> how many people on here give honest feedback when in a restaurant you are asked "is everything alright Sir"??
The waiter's just being polite. He hasn't cooked the food and doesn't really want to listen to your tedious, ignorant opinion of it. The last thing he wants is to hear you wittering on for ten minutes. He's busy.
So I always mumble something inarticulate to return the courtesy. Comes easily to me, the creative inarticulate mumble.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 30 Jan 15 at 16:26
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Mrs ON, myself, daughter, and son in law were eating in a restaurant in the USA after a days skiing when I bit on a small steel nut. I asked for the manager and explained the problem. My meal was replaced, and our total bill for the meals cancelled. No hassle or drama and everyone happy.
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He didn't point to a disclaimer saying " May contain nuts" then.
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>> He didn't point to a disclaimer saying " May contain nuts" then.
>>
Then you would be screwed !
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Just as well you weren't bolting your food.
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Should be in another thread
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LOL CGN, very quick...
Saw the same in a Outback Steak place - customer on next table responded the steak was over cooked, but he was prepared to eat it - they removed his entire meal from the bill (just his, not the whole lot)
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Ted's Montana Grill didn't go quite that far when I sent back my overcooked bison burger, but I did get an extended grovel from the manager and a substantial deduction from the bill. And another burger, which was fine - and all I really wanted.
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>> He didn't point to a disclaimer saying " May contain nuts" then.
Trust you to hijack this thread.
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All this reminds me of the sub-editors dream story.
A lunatic sexually assaults a group of women in a launderette and flees. The headline:
Nut Screws Washers and Bolts
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>> Nut Screws Washers and Bolts
My old man - normally decorously spoken - cracked me up with that one when I was about 17 or 20. An oldie but a goodie... In his version it was the New York Daily News. The terms nut and screw in those senses are very American.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 30 Jan 15 at 18:43
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Coincidentally I have just complained about a lousy lunch I had on Tuesday. I was asked if everything was ok. It wasn't. The girl gave the impression she couldn't give a stuff, so I just emailed the place. And when I paid I told them it was rubbish as well. She equally couldn't give a stuff.
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>> Coincidentally I have just complained about a lousy lunch I had on Tuesday. I was
>> asked if everything was ok. It wasn't. The girl gave the impression she couldn't give
>> a stuff, so I just emailed the place. And when I paid I told them
>> it was rubbish as well. She equally couldn't give a stuff.
Did you deduct anything from the bill?
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SWM's firm, when she worked, always had their Christmas do at a very posh hotel in Prestbury, Cheshire. Until people started dying off there were about 40, spouses as well.
One year the owners daughter found a human tooth in a bread roll.
The whole bill was cancelled........and the meal was very good.
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It's true that waiters get first swipe at the tips, but apart from that they are at the front end and have to listen to punters grumbling pompously about food they aren't responsible for.
That's why I don't complain in restaurants and generally hate with a passion those who do. Self-righteous t***s, thinking their few quid are some sort of big deal... STFU FFS, it may well be almost edible next time. Tchah!
If some of these cats had been to boarding school they'd realise how lucky they are.
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So I assume you wouldn't complain to a car salesman if your car was faulty because he didn't actually build it?
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No, I wouldn't complain. I'd specify the fault or faults if they were worth mentioning (I notice a lot of car buyers demand perfection, which is unattainable by definition. I wouldn't bother with the really trivial stuff people go on and on about). Complaining is for tiresome prats who think they have rights, not for people capable of enjoying a new car.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 30 Jan 15 at 23:56
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>> That's why I don't complain in restaurants and generally hate with a passion those who
>> do.
I don't send food back.
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I've been in 'spoons a few times when folk have complained. They always seem to get their money back or a fresh meal.
It's 'spoons for heaven's sake. I've always found it hot enough and edible. What else can you expect at their prices?
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"I don't send food back."
I think I've only had to do this once. A bunch of us were dining following a departmental meeting and my boss and I had both ordered a crab salad. After tasting the crab, we looked at one another, wrinkled our faces and decided that the crab was most definitely 'off'. The waiter took our meals away, the head-man came out and apologised, asked us to re-choose, and gave us a complimentary bottle of wine. There was no fuss at all.
It drives me mad when a newspaper reports that e.g. Josephine Bloggs has found a bit of mould in her wheatybangs, it could have poisoned her entire family - and she's demanding a huge compensation fee and a letter of apology from the chief executive.
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>>"I don't send food back."
>>
I have, on a flight in F class, sent Champagne back as being almost flat.
I sent the replacement offering back too. I guess it too was from the same bottle.
Third time was lucky.
Not an option of walking out :-)
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>> I don't send food back.
I would never send food back, nor would I make a complaint if I was likely to remain in the restaurant long enough to consume a further course.
As far as I can remember I have only ever complained once in the past, and that was on a rare visit to a particularly expensive restaurant. The waiter said that he would ask the head chef to come to our table, but after a long wait we departed (at least financially better off, as of course we didn't leave a tip) and will never return
Spoons? Never had anything to complain about there. Decent food and decent ale, for a very reasonable price. Pity there isn't one on our doorstep!
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"I would never send food back,"
Not even if it were definitely 'off' and very likely to give you food poisoning?
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>> "I would never send food back,"
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>> Not even if it were definitely 'off' and very likely to give you food poisoning?
>>
I sent my gammon steak back in Wetherspoon's the other week, they refunded the total cost of my meal without any hassle; so I had half a meal and a nice pint of bitter for free :-)) Most meals I've had there have been fine, but this one looked like it had been used as a space shuttle tile.
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Sat 31 Jan 15 at 16:04
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>> "I would never send food back,"
>> Not even if it were definitely 'off' and very likely to give you food poisoning?
If it was definitely off, I wouldn't eat it. And I wouldn't want it replacing either.
I think you're pulling my leg, Haywain.
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"And I wouldn't want it replacing either."
As soon as we drew their attention to the state of the crab, it was immediately withdrawn from the menu; we didn't have any qualms about ordering something else.
I should have known better, really, the safest place to buy crab is when you are up in Norfolk. I suspect that when they realise that the crabs are destined for Suffolk, the Norfolk folks do something unspeakable to them. They can be very spiteful ;-)
Apparently, when Grimsby footy fans take a particular dislike to the opposition's fans, they sing their 'We pi $ $ on your fish' song.
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I have, on a flight in F class, sent Champagne back as being almost flat. I sent the replacement offering back too. I guess it too was from the same bottle.
Third time was lucky.
Fizzy pop, and I suspect sparkling wines in the aircraft versions are less gassy as the air in aircraft is maintained at lower pressure, roughly 6000 to 8000 feet. If said fizzy drink was fizzy as per normal, it would go bonkers served in an aircraft.
I'm a mine of useless information...
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Sat 31 Jan 15 at 13:52
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Me. I'm reasonably forgiving in "cheap eat" pubs but if I'm paying above Weatherspoon prices and something is definitely not right (usually a medium rare steak that turns up medium well) then it goes back to the kitchen.
And if they dare to turn up to ask the question before I've had chance to eat more than a couple of mouthfuls, they are told to ask me again in five minutes.
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Restaurant complaint - Old Navy
