Ratatouille

It's with great sadness iam writing this article. Iam a hotel management graduate and to write bad about a hotel is some thing that hurts me badly. But this article should be an eye-opener for restaurants that take customers for granted. I will narrate the incidents, Please note it is not a single occasion but multiple humiliations by hotel staff led me to write this article criticising the particular restaurant. I will name it at end to avoid pre conceived ideas about the brand interfering your judgment. Iam not sure why the waiters go to such an extent to make sure the customers does not give the eatery a second chance.

I will be honest with you, as a hotel mgmt grad. i know the conditions in which the waiters work and it is a professional ethic to treat each customer with smile and at the least with basic respect. I have forgiven many a times the delay in service or absence of courtesy from a waiter as i have seen and experienced their working conditions in my career. The restaurant in question has taken it to a level where even i felt bad and humiliated about the experience.

This eatery is located near the beach and there is a constant flow of customers and the mgmt is very confident that they will never run out of customers even on a dull day. This confidence can be seen in the behavior of waiters when they toss your food as if it is free and we are undeserving beggars. When you order anything other than regular precooked food they tell you that it will take 25-30 mins to discourage you from ordering it and they make sure the food is delayed when you don't listen to their admonition.

I will narrate you one incident to give you a taste. I am working in a reputed bank and my shift begins at 7.00am on certain days and normally i never have anything in the morning. One day since i started from home at 6.30am i went in to this restaurant to have a quick breakfast and the waiter asked me the usual question and i said "Idly" as i know these guys will make me wait for even a dosa at that time. There was only one other customer and i waited for 10 mins for a puny idly and when i thought that this guy was not taking any effort to bring them. i asked him what's the issue he said "it will take another 10 mins". I told him then you should have told me that idly will take time and i asked him " Is there anything else?". "NO" was his reply. When i told him you have wasted 10 mins for simply saying no. He just glared at me. I promise you if this was any other restaurant, the waiter would have been fired then and there. This was the third time i was humiliated at the same restaurant. This was my breaking point or tipping point as one might say. I vowed that even if i die of hunger or if there is no other restaurant in this world i will never step in to this place. Other customers might have felt this and might have refused to return but the restaurant is doing good business because of one time tourists who visit the beach.

I can narrate on more incident before crucifixion. I took my friends for a treat one day and we went for the a/c hall which is supposed to give you better service. We ordered and my friend in particular ordered NAN with MALAI KOFTA. We were 3 members and two of us got what we ordered because it was regular food. The third order got delayed, we gave it 15 mins then checked with the supervisor he said "5 mins", ok fine another 10 mins went by, we enquired again. "2 mins" was his reply. The two of us finished our food and 30 mins have gone by for a simple dish "MALAI KOFTA". I told the guys to cancel the order and i got the quickest reply" Ok fine sir". we stormed out of the hall and waiting to pay the bill at the counter the waiter came and said "KOFTA is ready would u like to have it. We stood as if we didn't hear him and he left slapping his head in the process as if he is tired of serving lousy customers like us. I took my friend to different restaurant and gave him a better treat.

Please tell me isn't it enough to turn away a good customer. Most of my friends who stay with me stopped going to this place as smaller food mess operate in customer friendly way. I can challenge anyone going to this particular restaurant to come back and say they have had a good experience.

To tell you the truth i have gone to another restaurant of the same group where I had much better experience.

Are you anxious to know the name. Here it is?
SANGEETHA VEG RESTAURANT, PYCROFTS ROAD TRIPLICANE.