Conned by TV

I think I had my most absurd meal ever.

Upon recommendation by a particular celebrity on TV, Mr BF decided to take me to this cafe, (believed to be newly opened) last Friday for dinner.

You know how you always see celebrities on TV, and they go "wooooo!" or "woooooow!!" or "MMMmmmmmm....." when they're promoting some cuisines, local or otherwise.

Don't ever believe that. No matter how good it looks on TV.

The ordeal we went through:

1. Ordering

We sat in the open area for five minutes before I took the initiative to pick up the menu from the hostess stand. A waitress came to clear up our table and took our order upon our request.

2. Waiting

We were told, after ordering, that there would be a waiting time of half hour to 45 min. Despite being absolutely hungry, we decided to wait and give this cafe a chance.

3. Being served

Our drinks - The waitress promised to serve us our drinks as soon as possible. Obviously we believe her as we didn't think it was hard to prepare an iced peach and iced lemon tea. She even promised that I can knock her on the head if she forgets about our orders.

After ten minutes or so, we still didn't have our drinks. We had to ask another server, a guy this time, to serve us the drinks. He did that promptly but the drinks that he brought to us, was completely bland. If not for the colouring, I would really think I was drinking stale water from the tap.

After a good 20 minutes, a waitress came along and informed us that they had ran out of pasta for my oven-baked pasta. She asked if we would like to change it to oven-baked rice instead, which is already READY. You don't need an IQ of 200 to realise there was a slip-up on our order and they're trying to persuade us to eat their error.

"Fine." Since we were really hungry.

Oddly, our main course, the oven-baked rice, came before the Caesar Salad, the appetizer.

The next dish served was the order of "Nuggets with Potato Wedges". Except that it wasn't potato wedges that was served. It was juz some good, old fries, fried with very dirty oil.

Grrrr. Never mind.

Before we could get a start on our food, my dessert consisting of a brownie and ice-cream was served. I had asked for the dessert to be served last. So I had to, once again, call the waitress over, and have her to take it away.

By then, we are starting to feel a little irritated, although, I did find it strangely amusing at the same time.

Our appetizer came after that. But it wasn't the Caesar salad that we ordered. The waiter placed the plate on our table. "Your Chef salad".

Now, I usually don't order salad when I eat out because I don't like the taste of too much Thousand Island on my vegetables. But Caesar salads are different. Which is why, i ONLY order Caesar Salads when I'm out.

"We didn't order a chef salad. We ordered a Caesar Salad."

The waiter took the plate back to the kitchen. I was a little annoyed but continued eating nonetheless.

After a while, a waitress brought out the same plate of salad and served it on our table. "Your Chef salad."

"I already told your colleague juz now that we ordered a Caesar Salad. NOT a Chef Salad. This is, NOT a Caesar Salad."

The waitress apologised and took the plate back to the kitchen. She came back a while later, with the exact same plate.

"This is a Caesar Salad. They ran out of chicken so they replaced it with ham."

!!!!

Firstly, if you've made a mistake with the order, admit it.

Secondly, even if what they said is the truth, shouldn't they seek the guest's opinion before replacing any ingredient?

Thirdly, if this is indeed a Caesar Salad, where the hell are the bread crumbs and bacon bits?!

Lastly, it's NOT A BLOODY CAESAR SALAD!!!

"Never mind. Leave it. I'll speak to your boss later."

We continued eating. Just wanted to quickly finish the meal and get the hell out of there.

The waiter who served us the salad the first time came over to our table.

"Eh, they still serve you the salad ah?"

"Yeah. We told them this is not a Caesar salad but they insist this is. There are no bacon bits or bread crumbs on this salad."

"You want bread crumbs on the salad? I think I saw some on the counter. Maybe the staff inside overlooked it. You want it? I can get it for you."

Thank you for that offer. But it no longer matters now.

The only dish that was served correctly was the honey-grilled chicken wings.

After the not-so-satisfying-nor-is-it-delicious meal, I asked for the dessert to be served. Which took another 10 minutes.

Mind you, it wasn't a most busy time for them.

The dessert looked quite appetizing, although the brownie seemed to be able to fill just two mouthfuls.

Our brownie, when served

After we started digging into the brownie, Mr BF decided to ask for a knife. We found it impossible to eat the hard-as-a-rock brownie with conventional spoons. But by then, I was already so fed-up with the dining experience that I decided not to call anyone over anymore as I know it's impossible for them to adhere our request. Not in the right manner at least.

The leftover brownie - Hard as a rock

In the end, I spent a good 30 bucks on a most unsatisfying meal. I would have banged some tables and kicked some chairs, if not for the very eager waiter and waitresses that kept apologising. When I was making payment, I realised that the entire cafe was ran by students, not older than 20.

Besides from the right attitude, they really gotta work on everything else, including serving the right food. Literally.

Needless to say, I won't be going back there. But then again, I might return to claim back the knocks on the head that the waitress owes me =)