Well, I had my first truly bad 'licious experience. Didier last night. I want to start by saying I rarely send food back and I have never left a restaurant mid-meal.
Appetizer was country terrine. Delicious with a nice side of greens with a dijon dressing that complemented the terrine perfectly.
Mr. S had the duck for main course. Nice crisp skin, tender meat. Very tasty. I had the salmon (salmon wrapped around a filling of salmon mousse and veggie garnish) on something that I never got to and beurre blanc. After my first bite, I got the filling which was cold (not even room temp), mousse still runny.
Finally got the attention of someone to take it back (service was not great overall). Mr. S asked that they take his meal and keep it warm.
Plate comes out again (same piece of salmon) and this time it was barely body temp in the centre. I flipped the top off to be sure and the mousse and salmon at the bottom where it wrapped around were only half cooked.
Finally got attention of a server (you would think that someone might have wanted to check to see if my meal was now okay, but no). I told him that I had really lost interest in this dish and asked if I could get something else. He said he would send over our waiter (who I had not seen since ordering...all food was delivered by runners). I heard him telling this to someone around the corner, but our waiter never returned.
Waited and waited and finally Mr S (whose food was sitting in front of him getting cold) asked me if I wanted to leave. He went to find our coats and while he was gone my salmon arrived again...same piece of salmon, reassembled. Server said if I still had a problem, the chef suggested mussels. I said that we were actually going to leave. Mr S came back and asked that the server get the manager to meet us at the front.
Some guy in a ball cap came out of the kitchen (I'll call him the chef; he didn't introduce himself). Mr S explained the situation. Chef said 'I would expect you will pay for the food you have eaten'. No apology, nothing. It was never our intention to pay nothing. We paid and left.
The only person who apologized was one of the runners who looked after getting us the bill (and he said earlier he was new). In fact, while we were paying the bill, our waiter started to walk into the bar, saw us and turned around and went another way.
When I first sent my meal back, I said to Mr S that I didn't mind a mistake, but the true test was how they dealt with that mistake. I'll give them an 'F' for that test.
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