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Author Topic: Not fishy enough!  (Read 2784 times)

Offline am1w

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Not fishy enough!
« on: January 02, 2012, 06:22:50 pm »
A true little story.

Went out for lunch today with a friend to an Italian restaurant. Nothing fancy. Part of a chain.
He ordered a 'special deal' meal and got a starter, main course and a glass of wine. Not bad value at £10 IMO.

I did not fancy anything from the special deal, so I went a la carte and ordered a pasta with prawns, calamari and mussels. Cost £14. Glass of wine was extra. Imagine my surprise when after poking around my lunch there was only 1 PRAWN, 1 TINY CALAMARI and 3 EMPTY MUSSELS out of 5!

I called the manager and politely requested him to explain this dish. His excuse, that's how much goes in and it's standard. When I questioned him about the empty mussels, he felt they must have dropped out of the shells between the cooking and the serving. Cheeky sod.

To cut a long story short and sensing my fury, he re-presented the dish now with 10 large juicy praws, 10 calamari and 10 non-empty mussels. Very tasty.

But the waitress was a sullen creature. So I refused to tip her and told her why and that she should enrol in 'charm school'. She went white as a sheet, then rosy red and then stamped her heels and fled in fury.

Three other tables around us (a total of approx 7 people) left their meals and walked out! Never seen this happen before!

BTW, this restaurant has, previous to today, always provided excellent food.
« Last Edit: January 02, 2012, 06:26:01 pm by am1w »
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Offline rich83

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Re: Not fishy enough!
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2012, 06:41:32 pm »
Was it Prezzo by any chance?

Offline Nodz

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Re: Not fishy enough!
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2012, 06:59:10 pm »
I've been finding that with a few chain restaurants making dishes smaller, charging more or not putting as much in the dish or a combination of the 3.

Never known people to walk out like that before lol

Offline JPC

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Re: Not fishy enough!
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2012, 07:15:48 pm »
Sounds like la tasca all over even though you said Italian

Offline am1w

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Re: Not fishy enough!
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2012, 07:20:27 pm »
Was it Prezzo by any chance?

It was Zi Zi in London.

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Offline andrewparker

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Re: Not fishy enough!
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2012, 07:29:25 pm »
There's a lesson to be learnt here...

Offline Viking

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Re: Not fishy enough!
« Reply #6 on: January 02, 2012, 07:44:25 pm »
I've stopped going to Frankie & Bennys due to the fact the pizza toppings are shrinking towards the middle of the pizza. There's an ever increasing crust round the edges, and the food is certainly less tasty than it was 5 years ago.
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Offline rich83

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Re: Not fishy enough!
« Reply #7 on: January 02, 2012, 07:46:05 pm »
Learn to cook and you can put exactly what you want in your food.  :happy2:

 :popcornsoda:

Offline Nodz

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Re: Not fishy enough!
« Reply #8 on: January 02, 2012, 07:58:10 pm »
I've stopped going to Frankie & Bennys due to the fact the pizza toppings are shrinking towards the middle of the pizza. There's an ever increasing crust round the edges, and the food is certainly less tasty than it was 5 years ago.

My brother went to work at the local F&B as a mate offered him a job as a stop gap, he left after a week and wont eat or drink in there again and I luckily stopped going long before he worked there due to the service and quality of the food. I'll spare the details of what my brother found as  don't want to put people off their local one.

Offline stealthwolf

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Re: Not fishy enough!
« Reply #9 on: January 02, 2012, 07:59:00 pm »
Have had rude service at Frankie & benny's (and I'm not the only one). TBH the few nandos I've been to seem to be going downhill (mainly with waiting for food - the worst bit is when you can see it but no one's bothered to bring it to you!).

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Offline simonp

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Re: Not fishy enough!
« Reply #10 on: January 03, 2012, 12:44:59 am »
Nando's seems to use some sort of micro-sized breed of chicken these days!

Offline sub39h

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Re: Not fishy enough!
« Reply #11 on: January 03, 2012, 01:03:49 am »
Nando's seems to use some sort of micro-sized breed of chicken these days!

THIS lol

remember when they first opened, you couldn't ever finish the chips they gave you. now you get 5 chips. 6 if you're lucky!

to the OP - sounds like you did the right thing re: the food, but i'm not sure i'd have been so blunt with the waitress. i wouldn't have left a tip either. i'm sure she'd have gotten the point!
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Offline am1w

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Re: Not fishy enough!
« Reply #12 on: January 03, 2012, 01:26:32 pm »
Nando's seems to use some sort of micro-sized breed of chicken these days!

THIS lol

remember when they first opened, you couldn't ever finish the chips they gave you. now you get 5 chips. 6 if you're lucky!

to the OP - sounds like you did the right thing re: the food, but i'm not sure i'd have been so blunt with the waitress. i wouldn't have left a tip either. i'm sure she'd have gotten the point!

The waitress practically threw the plate in front of me and the tomato sauce splashed onto the napkin. She banged down the glass of water and wine and left them both at the other end of the table. I said nothing until I had to pay the bill. Needless to say, I was livid. I should have walked out, but I was hungry, cold and tired.
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