Do I dare ask what happened?
A lot of things happened the second time. I left with the impression that the restaurant had become too hyped for its own good. The second time around I got my friends to order two dishes I had the first time I went. The difference between the first and second visit was like night and day. This one beef dish I had was considerably worse than what you can get at the food court of any Chinese shopping centre. The service was disorganized and very tense. Sadly, many restaurants that become renowned and earn celebrity status go down the pan. I had a more recent experience at anoter famous eatery, so I'll talk more about that one instead of this 2004 visit.
There is a world-renowned restaurant in Toronto that I went to recently. It shall remain nameless. I not only left dissatisfied, but offended. The food was not bad, but the service was absolutely disgusting. Actually, let me rephrase that. The food was not bad, but not close to what it is cracked up to be and there were far too many ingredients blended in the sauces. I think there is a fascination with celebrity chefs and their food that I don't understand.
First, the dumbass waiters leaving their shift were running around flashing cash in the dining room. My party sat at a small four-person table and the waiters had the nerve to ask us to hand him our dirty plates instead of taking two steps around to the other side of the table! Then my friend asks for a glass of water and the head waiter makes some remark about there being wine at the table, probably suggesting she drink that. When one of his underlings did bring the water, it was overfilled and he set it down less than gingerly, which dropped water onto a plate of food that we were sharing. In a strange twist, he tried to take the plate away without asking if we were done! Finally, the manager presents this over elaborate appetizer course and tells us which order
we will eat the appetizers in! The meal cost over $1,000, so this service is unacceptable. It was rude and unacceptable for a $10 meal.
I'm not saying all celebrity restaurants are bad, but some of them are just incredibly pretentious and the don't have the common sense to train their staff to demonstrate basic etiquette. I think some of these ballyhooed restaurants have less respect for their customers than a street vendor.
The best restaurant I've been to is probably L'Arpege, owned by Michelin 3-star chef Alain Passard. I was there when he was moving away from heavy meat and game dishes on his menu. The food was still superb and the servers were actually trained professionally.
OK, you got my attention.....
