My friend, Aloysius, was totally peeved by the service of an Italian restaurant recently as it totally spoilt a happy occasion for him and his family.
I encouraged him to write to me. The following is his account of the incident:
"If anyone is thinking of having a meal at the La Nonna Italian restaurant in Namly Place, he/she had better think twice.
I was there on 30 Nov for lunch and could not believe how any respectable restaurant could give such shitty service and hope to get away with it.
It was my younger daughter's birthday celebration and she was hosting the lunch.
Altogether there were 10 people. We scheduled lunch at 1.00 pm as some could not make it earlier. When we arrived, only four or five tables were occupied and some had already finished their meals. There was only one waitress going about her job and there was a guy whom I presumed was the superviser or manager. We sat there for a while and tried to attract the waitress' attention to come and take our orders. But it was not too successful!
We waited for another while before she finally came. Eight of us ordered from the a la carte menu while two decided to have the set lunch.
The first course came and, after a long interval when most of
us got our main course, my son who ordered a risotto had to send it back to the kitchen twice -- the first one was salty but the second one was worse. It was only the third one that was satisfactory.
Meanwhile, my elder daughter who had ordered a pizza from the set menu for her main course, sat waiting patiently. Everyone else was finishing their food and here she was still waiting
for her pizza.
She called the waitress no less than three times to see what was happening and each time she came back to say that it was coming but it never came.
By this time, everyone had finished his/her food. My daughter was furious and decided to go into the kitchen to see what was the cause of the delay.
To her dismay, she saw an uncooked pizza on the kitchen table
which was supposed to have gone into the oven a long time ago.The chef did not even acknowledge that there was a screw-up.
When the pizza finally came, she decided to send it back to the
kitchen as she was no longer hungry, being in a very bad mood.
My younger daughter, the host, was thoroughly embarrassed that someone she invited had to be put through such an ordeal and on her birthday of all days.
We all left without ordering dessert or coffee. We made sure that one set lunch was not included in the bill.
Walking out of the restaurant, I passed the guy whom I had presumed was the supervisor. He looked at me arrogantly without a word of apology as if saying “you had lousy service, so what?”
It was past 2.30 pm when we left the restaurant. In fact, the restaurant was empty except for our table at around 2 o'çlock.
Meanwhile, my elder daughter who had ordered a pizza from the set menu for her main course, sat waiting patiently. Everyone else was finishing their food and here she was still waiting
for her pizza.
She called the waitress no less than three times to see what was happening and each time she came back to say that it was coming but it never came.
By this time, everyone had finished his/her food. My daughter was furious and decided to go into the kitchen to see what was the cause of the delay.
To her dismay, she saw an uncooked pizza on the kitchen table
which was supposed to have gone into the oven a long time ago.The chef did not even acknowledge that there was a screw-up.
When the pizza finally came, she decided to send it back to the
kitchen as she was no longer hungry, being in a very bad mood.
My younger daughter, the host, was thoroughly embarrassed that someone she invited had to be put through such an ordeal and on her birthday of all days.
We all left without ordering dessert or coffee. We made sure that one set lunch was not included in the bill.
Walking out of the restaurant, I passed the guy whom I had presumed was the supervisor. He looked at me arrogantly without a word of apology as if saying “you had lousy service, so what?”
It was past 2.30 pm when we left the restaurant. In fact, the restaurant was empty except for our table at around 2 o'çlock.
I believe this restaurant is a member of the Senso Restaurant group in Club Street, a restaurant with a fine reputation and which I had dined there on a number of occasions in the past.
I hope the Senso management knows what this little restaurant in the suburbs is doing to kill their reputation."
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