• selokichtli@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    1 hour ago

    If the food was great, shouldn’t that fact alone give at least one star more? Why are people do fixated with 1 and 5 stars? Don’t they realize there are three other possibilities to rank? I’m upset.

  • Smoogs@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    3 hours ago

    And they go as far as to tell him to Kys… wow. I bet That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

  • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    39
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    6 hours ago

    A few years ago I was in a local place where the food and service were both entertainingly bad. For decades it had been a wonderful little Greek restaurant, until the couple who ran it moved to Greece for a well-deserved retirement and their son took it over. The son remodeled and reopened it as a combination Greek/sushi restaurant and sports bar, hanging five or six large screens from the ceiling. In a place slightly larger than my living room.

    I was eager to try the sushi. “There’s no sushi tonight. Dennis isn’t here.” Oh, alright, when is Dennis here? “We don’t know. Maybe Wednesday. He never says.” Well alrighty then. Dennis is livin’ the dream I guess. So I ordered spanakopita, another favorite. What I received was a brown chunk resembling a giant Totino’s pizza roll, on an otherwise bare plate, where it dryly slid around all by itself. It looked and tasted like a Costco product they took out of a package and over-microwaved. The driest, crispest spanakopita I’ve ever had.

    I took a chance and ordered the baklava. It tasted okay but instead of being flaky it was actually soggy - not as in dripping with butter and honey, I mean watery. The only watery baklava I’ve ever had, and also the only serving of baklava in my life that I did not finish.

    A guy dining at the next table asked the waitress for the check, but said he would like a cup of coffee first. I was directly facing the clock and happened to notice it was exactly 7pm. At 7:10 she returned with their check and said, “We’re out of coffee.” Wat? They’re open for another 3 hours and they’re out of coffee LOL? And it took a full 10 minutes to return with this info. It’s a tiny place, I could see the coffee machine like 12 ft away. And there are like six customers. Seemed like a dismally bad restaurant in a sitcom, reminding me somewhat of the diner in The Dark Backward.

    There were a couple other things but that’s all I can remember. Anyway, this new version of the place didn’t last long and it’s permanently closed now.

    • Furbag@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 hours ago

      I’ve noticed in most cases on Kitchen Nightmares that either the food is good but one or two problem employees bring the entire restaurant down, or the food sucks ass but the service staff are generally sympathetic and will not mince words about the bad quality. In almost every case, management is in denial despite asking for help.

      I wonder if they stage it that way on purpose, because I can’t imagine getting lucky enough to have Gordon fucking Ramsay come to save my failing restaurant and having my ego stand in the way at the moment of truth.

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        7 minutes ago

        It was often owner/managers that couldn’t stay the f out of the way of employees who knew what they were doing, didn’t have a menu that was cost- and manpower-effective, or didn’t get rid of bad employees.

        The show was obviously edited for effect, but IIRC the businesses were legit. They were usually on their last financial “leg”, and owners would give up.

        Virtually all the failures otherwise were because the owner or management refused to follow Ramsay’s advice.

  • tetris11@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    91
    ·
    9 hours ago

    One of the oldest Chinese restaurants in the UK crams all foreigners upstairs to share tables with random strangers, where cutlery is thrown at you carelessly and the waiter tuts if you don’t give them a string of numbers as an order. If you go there with a chinese national you’re somewhat protected from the abuse, but they still glare at you.

    Anyway the food is divine and they don’t overcharge, and it’s one of my favourite places to eat.

  • IndiBrony@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    106
    ·
    12 hours ago

    Could easily make it part of the experience.

    “Here’s your food, I hope you fucking choke on it you cunt”

    I’d go 👍

      • Hikermick@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        5 hours ago

        Haha my city had a Dick’s Last Resort, it was fun! My favorite story about that place is when my boss and his wife (unknowingly) went there with another couple. They were VERY proper Brits (in the US) in their mid 70’s. The husband of the other couple wanted to know if there were seeds on the sandwich bun . The waitress asked if he was a some kind of F●●●ing expert. The guy goes on to explain he has diverticulitis without batting an eye

    • moriquende@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      27
      ·
      8 hours ago

      I regularly go to a Vietnamese restaurant with work colleagues not only because the food is great, but the entertainment value of the owner berating you for not eating the expensive vegetables or calling you an idiot because you ordered the small drink despite the small price difference is just hilarious. You can tell he isn’t faking it too, the guy really just can’t keep it in. We love it, but I’ve met plenty of people who vowed to never return after the experience.

    • JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      10 hours ago

      This is apparently already a thing. I’ve never been to one but I’ve heard about novelty restaurants where the wait staff demean you while serving you

    • Pringles@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      9 hours ago

      That reminds me of the Amadeus bar in Leuven. The owner was notoriously grumpy and curt. I sometimes went there as a student to play board games. One time he seemed very interested as we were playing, as he was looking at the board. We asked him if he wanted to play with and he just went “No, I’m wondering how much longer this game will take so I can kick you out and close.”

      Not sure if it’s still open.

    • saltesc@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      79
      ·
      13 hours ago

      I dunno. Todd could be exaggerating…

      reads reaponse

      Yep, Todd probably was entertained.