We used to love Jiko. It used to be our favorite. We'd make it down for dinner at least four or five times a year (we're two hours away, so day trips/overnight trips are very common for us).
We loved the spices, the service, the wines, the flatbreads, the steaks ... we even loved just walking around the lodge!
We had our first sour experience during
free dining in September of 2007. Now, we don't do
DDP, so we kind of chalked that experience up to going during free dining. Service was slow, portions were tiny compared to what we were used to (and the prices had gone up!) and we just got the vibe from our server that he had a million better things to do than his job. Like we were bugging him.
We went again last January. Both DH & I had to send our steaks back a couple times. They were absolutely raw in the middle. We got lectured by our server that time (a female ... don't know her name) about how the steaks should really be eaten rare. Uh, excuse me, but for $37 a pop, we like our steaks med/med well. They finally came out burned to a crisp. It was like they were trying to prove a point. We ate around the char because we were starving at that point and asked for a manager. One never came.
We decided to give our old favorite one more try last May. More of the same. Over an hour wait past our ADR time, and then another 30 minutes once we were seated just to get water and bread. And we actually had to ask and remind our server that we were very thirsty and starving at that point ... to please bring us something non-alcoholic to drink. Steaks, once again, severely undercooked, lectured again when we asked for them to be cooked medium, never even offered dessert or coffee, just given our bill while we were still eating dinner.
We are done with Jiko. This is a restaurant DH & I had spent numerous anniversary meals. We'd eaten there four, five times a year for years. I do get nervous eating somewhere so regularly because, "something is bound to go wrong at some point," but three strikes in a row, and you're out.
We pay out of pocket since we don't stay onsite, and even with the DDE, with the tiny portions now offered, Jiko was not worth the prices they were charging. It might be a good deal for those with the DDP, but some of the servers working there really need to find something else to do.
Also, we're really not a difficult group. It's just DH & I, sometimes we bring my foodie mother. We like everything on a menu, we order apps, entrees & desserts and tip high. Honestly, it takes a lot to turn us off a restaurant, as you can read by the fact we gave them two more chances after the first sour experience.
