Saturday, March 22, 2008

When a restaurant runs out of gas......

This has got to be the most hilarious restaurant story, though at that time, it was anything but hilarious. I am a big Chinese food fan and I recently dragged hubby to a place that I insisted was fantastic. For some reason, perhaps because it was a weekday, the restaurant was deserted. And we were glad to have it to ourselves. A smiling waiter took our order: a starter and main course and left us alone in an already deserted restaurant. Meanwhile, we drank thirstily from the mineral water bottle he had supplied. For almost 15-20 minutes, there was no sign of anybody. And then the waiter came back, a very sheepish look on his face. “Sorry, but we can give you only the starter,” he said. We were confused. “The main course we ordered is not available?” we asked. “It’s not that: there’s enough gas to cook only the starter,” he supplied. For a moment, the two of us resembled gold fish in an aquarium: mouths opening and closing in stupefaction. While anger and amazement fought to overpower each other, we decided to just leave and asked for a bill for the water. And we got it: a Rs 50 bill for a Rs 12 bottle of water ! Hungry and furious, we offered to pay only the price on the bottle. Finally, a hassled manager decided to put in an appearance and offered to waive the bill; we did better and just left behind the half-full bottle. A few weeks later, I happened to go back to the restaurant, having ascertained that it had all the supplies. Sadly, both food and service have gone down the tube. And no, my previous experience did not colour my views!

No comments: