We were eagerly awaiting our second visit to Sanaa after our May trip. In May the food was superb, the service very good, and left us wanting more. So fast forward to October and our most coveted ADR (well, at least for me and DH!). We couldn't wait. Well, we were not as impressed the second time around, mostly due to the service. Our food was still very good....in fact, we regret we didn't get in another meal here before we left.
The service on the other hand left a lot to be desired. The CM just didn't seem to want to be there. Took her a lot longer than I would have expected to even come to take our drink order considering the restaurant was almost empty when we arrived. She was friendly enough when she took our order and even guessed we would want our bread service with our meal rather than as an appetizer (my DH is Indian and would typically eat bread with the curry and not as an appetizer). Kind of went downhill from there. She left from taking our order and we didn't see her again till 10 minutes after our food was delivered (she didn't even check on us after our appetizer was delivered to make sure it was okay - not that she had to as it was fine - just sayin'). We had not received our bread with our food as requested - no biggie. She even offered to take back the entree to keep it warm until the bread was ready. When the food finally came back out (kids were finished by then) our bread order was incorrect. You have your choice of 3 of 4 different breads and we had ordered one each of three of the choices. We received one of our choices and two of another choice and none of our third choice. My DH pointed this out to her and her response was "well the one you ordered is no good anyway - we are probably taking it off the menu". I was shocked! I expected "let me fix that for you" or even a "would you like me to have the chef prepare that for you now". She then disappeared again for what seemed like forever. My son wanted ice cream as his kids' meal dessert and we were simply waiting for her to return to tell her. We ordered his ice cream and it was at least 15 minutes before she brought it to the table.
I know this post probably seems pretty harsh toward the CM but she just really surprised me with her overall attitude (there were other odd comments she made when she would appear but I didn't post them all). I realize maybe she was just having a bad day.....but when we spent almost $100 we expected better service. My DH didn't even want to leave a tip but I encouraged him to do so as maybe the CM had just had a really bad day.
We will return to Sanaa as we love the food.....will just hope for better service next time.
The service on the other hand left a lot to be desired. The CM just didn't seem to want to be there. Took her a lot longer than I would have expected to even come to take our drink order considering the restaurant was almost empty when we arrived. She was friendly enough when she took our order and even guessed we would want our bread service with our meal rather than as an appetizer (my DH is Indian and would typically eat bread with the curry and not as an appetizer). Kind of went downhill from there. She left from taking our order and we didn't see her again till 10 minutes after our food was delivered (she didn't even check on us after our appetizer was delivered to make sure it was okay - not that she had to as it was fine - just sayin'). We had not received our bread with our food as requested - no biggie. She even offered to take back the entree to keep it warm until the bread was ready. When the food finally came back out (kids were finished by then) our bread order was incorrect. You have your choice of 3 of 4 different breads and we had ordered one each of three of the choices. We received one of our choices and two of another choice and none of our third choice. My DH pointed this out to her and her response was "well the one you ordered is no good anyway - we are probably taking it off the menu". I was shocked! I expected "let me fix that for you" or even a "would you like me to have the chef prepare that for you now". She then disappeared again for what seemed like forever. My son wanted ice cream as his kids' meal dessert and we were simply waiting for her to return to tell her. We ordered his ice cream and it was at least 15 minutes before she brought it to the table.
I know this post probably seems pretty harsh toward the CM but she just really surprised me with her overall attitude (there were other odd comments she made when she would appear but I didn't post them all). I realize maybe she was just having a bad day.....but when we spent almost $100 we expected better service. My DH didn't even want to leave a tip but I encouraged him to do so as maybe the CM had just had a really bad day.
We will return to Sanaa as we love the food.....will just hope for better service next time.
I've never had anything less than excellent service, well I am considered a regular now
But seriously, I bet this was just a fluke
