I wrestled with the suggestion of this page's idea before I yielded to adding it. Apparently the site came across with the attitude of claiming perfection, and that perhaps, in a couple of recent cases, worked against us simply because the expectations were just that, a large place with several cooks and tuxedo reception perfection!
Well, I have just had a negative experience that made me think ...
Well, first I should comment that any and every restaurant makes mistakes simply because any human is bound to miss or forget or err. And yes, I did, but not too often.
So, why am I writing about it? I thought it might make an interesting page to clarify that being good, I mean being really good is one thing ... but we don't have the attitude expressed by the famous facetious comment: "I was wrong only once .. once I thought I was wrong!"
Perhaps because this is no ordinary restaurant, when a mistake is made here, it is not as simple, understandable or acceptable as it would be at many other restaurants; I just found out.
I should also comment that I know many who work in this business and I know that every restaurant has its share of errors, some even daily.
I also must comment that in 5 years of operation, we messed up less than a dozen times; that's all ... yes, may be about 10 cases in 5 years where a mistake was made; and of course they were all my fault personally. I am here all day every day and I am the only cook.
I also found out that many people when the food and service are excellent, they may mention it casually once or twice to a few people. But when they are not happy, they would go out of their way to strongly criticize and preach against the place. In our case, because the expectations are so great, we can't get away with what the average good restaurant can be forgiven for. Actually, a couple of these cases were cases of misunderstanding or not understanding by the patron.
So, I thought in complete fairness, I should also mention the some half of dozen cases or so when I goofed or kind of did. This will show that our performance and ratio of error puts us up at the top.
1- Well, let's start with a silly one .. the veggies or cream potatoes were not hot enough: While having 3 or 4 tables at the same time (this is considered very busy for us; we are a 7 tables restaurant with one cook, one grill and many menu entrees; which is why we encourage reservation) - I realized when it was too late that taking the veggies or the cream potatoes off the grill, placing it on a plate and then leave the veggies and potatoes on the plate close to the hood exhaust suction for just a minute to ensure that the table can be served as one set, this one minute (we don't use heat lamps), this one minute gap close to hood suction, extracts the heat away from the veggies and very quickly they are no longer as hot. That apparently happened a few times before I found out that the exhaust suction was that effective. So, first complaint or mistake was, in a few cases the veggies were not hot when served (even though they placed on the grill only after the patron has ordered).
2- In one single case I picked the wrong piece of beef to place on the grill. We have the meat in 3 different marinating stages depending on the recipe; for example a few pieces in a small tray are in coffee-wine-lemon marinade; in the second day it's marinated in orange juice, herbs and the 3rd in onion, garlic, spices and rum .. then it's ready for the grill. If, as has happened once, if a piece of under marinated beef is placed on the grill and treated as if it's fully marinated, the result will not produce the desired tenderness and taste. (As far as I know this happened only once and I feel silly even writing about it, but, as you can tell; I find an excuse to write; and short & sweet isn't one of my qualities either!) .. and ironically, tender beef, pork and lamb is a known feature of our kitchen).
3- Some meats such as duck, chicken and lamb recipes require that the bones and skin not be removed as this is where most of the flavour is, not in the actual meat. I compensate when serving lamb by offering extra pieces. In the case of chicken and duck, the second marinating involves a vacuum steaming with herbs, and separating and removing the extracted fat. What is left is a tasty thin layer of skin (which can later be removed at the final serving). 2 customers didn't understand and unfortunately their comments to the server were brought to my attention too late to explain as they had already left.
4- I have 4 different hummus recipes. One of them is rather different and it utilizes honey, marinated garlic and different herbs. One customer who is used to common commercial hummus thought it had a peanutbutter taste (we don't use peanutbutter). I am sure they would have loved the recipe I served the day before, the lemon-garlic based hummus. One complaint in 5 years surely should be ignored and I was advised that this page may negatively imply an unfair picture. Maybe. Perhaps I should again emphasize that with the exception of one case, one day, one recipe, one person, for 5 years every one loved our hummuus. However, this page is designed to list mistakes or complaints though they may be negligible.
5- This one is almost funny .. I had a Swedish couple visit for dessert and coffee. They expressed that Swedish kitchen has a sweet tooth and they wanted the dessert sweetened with sugar and honey, and the coffee basically saturated with sugar. Later that day, a couple of ladies and a gentleman arrived for dessert and coffee and the ladies looked Swedish (!!!!) and as I asked in a friendly way, it was actually confirmed that that the young lady was or is half Swedish. So I over-sweetened their coffee and desserts. Well, they found them too sweet!!!!!! .. What bothers me is that they now think - and probably also tell people - that our desserts are not the gourmet type. In gourmet business, 5 years of kitchen pride and reputation can be injured by one mistake; but again; no way any kitchen or any chef can be infallible or can satisfy everyone. We could easily say we have a record of 99.99%+ success and I suppose that's as perfect as it gets.
6- A "butcher" friend, on his way home, stopped by and left me a bag of meat trimmings "scrap" for my dog. I told him to leave it outside as I intended to put it in my car to take home. I forgot about it for an hour, and a customer sat at the patio outside near the bag; and she was not very happy to see it. Never had a chance to explain to her! oh well!
7- Finally perhaps our biggest Ooooops is something we can't help much. The location, the modest area and the not too glamorous image from outside. To the new uninitiated visitor, it doesn't look too impressive, perhaps it looks like a greasy spoon place. Far from it inside. Unfortunately, several times new customers call us for directions, then when they drive into the plaza's parking lot they slow down, look at the place from outside, and drive away never getting the chance the judge the food, the atmosphere, the spirit and the service. In fact, if you have an opinion or advice as to why exactly or if you have an advice, please call me. Meanwhile, we thank our VIP patrons, many of whom are professionals, for their supportive and friendship.
