THE ABSOLURE WORST
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 10/22/07
Arriving @ 3pm with relatives from Spain. The hostess was pleasant enough and agreed to seat us in 15 minutes even though we noticed that the restaurant was less than half full. We took it all in stride and decided to wander the mall and return @ 3:15. After returning, we noticed that the hostess was just beginning to prepare a table for 6(did I mention that the restaurant was less than half full?). The table was right at the entrance and we requested to be seated one more table in. Her demeanor changed quickly and said she'd have to ask the manager. We thought it'd be a no brainer since there were loads of tables empty in the area we requested. The manager came out and had a lengthy discussion with her, walking right by us and not evening glancing in our direction. The attire of the manager was shocking. I honestly thought he was a homeless person. Dirty matted hair, torn jeans(and not the stylish type), underwear hanging out(no he did not have hip-hop attire), unshaven and totally disheavelled(sp?). Quite a contrast to the rest of the staff that were smartly attired in restaurant uniform.
As we were being seated, we were told that the food would be at least 30 minutes. We hadn't ordered anything by that time so I just thought that at that time the lunch staff may have left and preperations were perhaps underway for the dinner crowd.
We ordered a variety of appetizers for everyone to share with our beers. The beers were excellent. Very cold and refreshing. The food was another matter completely.
Of the 2 personal sized pizzas we ordered, 10 minutes later we were told that we could only have one as they were sold out. None of us could believe that they could've run out of pizza at 4pm. No matter, we had ordered a lot of other things so we took it all in stride.
So let's review the food. We ordered 2 calamaris. They were extremely greasy and limp. To make matters worse, they were freezer burnt. Then our nachos came, and it was nothing more than a bowl of dip with some chips on the side. We asked if that was the nacho and the server told us that it was their style of nacho. A word of warning, if you're expecting regular nachos, chips topped with ground beef, cheese, guacomole, salsa, pepers & cheese all melted up....think again. They give you a bowl with layerings of sour cream, guacomole, a bit of salsa surrounded by unheated stale chips.
Then there was the crab/lobster/spinach dip. It's a total mess held together by cheese that was only partially melted and totally devoid of flaver. You would never know that there was any flavouring of seafood at all. These are served with what appeared to be very greasy & burnt pita cut up in triangles & deep fried.
The pizza was cold. Yes, cold. About the only way you could screw up a pizza is to let it sit outside for 25 minutes before you serve it. Not acceptable in any restaurant, let alone one that's more than half empty.
The chicken wings were average and nothing special.
The beers were very cold and refreshing, the highlight of the visit. A welcome thirst quencher after an afternoon of sight-seeing.
Final word. We would never go back...EVER. The only thing going for this establishment is it's prime location. A shame that they take this for granted and don't concentrate more on the food and service end of things.