View Single Post
  #3 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to rec.food.cooking
Wayne Boatwright
 
Posts: n/a
Default What's the funniest or worst restaurant experience you'd had so far? (LONG)

On Fri 25 Nov 2005 08:07:25p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Rob?

> Irrespective of the location, what's been your funniest or worst
> restaurant experience/s you've had so far - as in the food and / or
> service being terrible, or the food and service being fine and very
> good, but something else amusing occurred.


This was a very strange and funny experience, even though the food was
worth what we "endured".

Years ago when I was in New Jersey for a week-long seminar, I asked one our
seminar hosts (who was Chinese) if she could recommend a good, authentic
Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, NYC that specialiced in dim sum. She
praised her recommendation while writing out the name and address for me.
As a frequent traveler to NYC, and having eaten in Chinatown many times,
the restaurant she recommended was one I'd never heard of.

At the end of the seminar I drove to NYC for a week's vacation. On the
Sunday of that week we went to the restaurant that was recommended. As
soon as we entered I realized that this was truly *authentic*, as there
wasn't an Occidental face in the place, neither staff or diners. It was
terribly crowded, mostly with Chinese family groups, some rather large.
Most of the women were wearing flowers. Most tables were set for 8-10
people. The host took us on a rambling trip to a room upstairs and in the
back and indicated that we should sit in the two chairs where six members
of a family were already seated. Not seeing any other tables, we complied.
We realized we were in even bigger "trouble" when we learned there were no
menus, only a placard in Chinese in the center of the table, and a
chalkboard of what I imagine were specialites on the wall. Soon we spotted
a waitress pushing a dim sum cart and discreetly motioned for her to come
to our table. She complied. No one spoke English, and we never heard a
word of English in the entire restaurant during our stay. There was no
flatware, only chopsticks...not surprising. We began selecting items from
the procession of carts that came through, and every item we chose was
delictable, that is, until just at the end. We spotted several dishes that
each boasted a single beautifully glazed meatball. Assuming it was
probably made of pork, we both indicated we wanted one. What we ended up
with were balls of tripe! Chewing was almost impossible for our teeth were
bouncing off the meatball. With only chopsticks, it was impossible to break
small pieces apart. We left most of it uneaten. All the while, the other
party at our table would smile bashfully and sometimes gently laugh.

When it was finally time to go, we were given a check that was written in
Chinese. We made our way to the front and presented the check to the
cashier. We had no idea how much we owed, but we had consumed a fair
amount of food. I proffered three twenty dollar bills. The cashier
handed two of them back, then proceeded to make change from the third bill.
She handed back a bit more than nine dollars in change!

As we were walking down the street, it suddenly dawned on us why the place
was so crowded. It was Mother's Day, and the Chinese (at least in the US)
were celebrating in full swing.

It was a delicious meal of dim sum, even if we were not a little self-
conscious the whole time.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
_____________________________________________

A chicken in every pot is a *LOT* of chicken!