This is Australia. The Land of Milk and Honey. And angry Greek restaurant owners.
My partner and I went out for his birthday meal to a local Greek restaurant that we had wanted to try for ages. We both love Greek cuisine, and he knew the chef/part owner from walking the dogs in the same place. Anyway, I order the “mezze” plate – all the delicious little bits of everything. However on getting it, it was clear to me that the whole lot had come out of bottles/jars/tins. Never mind. But I was a bit annoyed as it was $35+ a serving.
Then the Father/Lord of the manner comes over and asked how it was. I’m not at all a rude person, far from it! But I did ask him whether any of the plate was freshly prepared, or did it come “prepacked?” To that point, he throws his hands in the air, says something loudly in Greek, tells me everything is “made in house” (not so judging by the colour of the dolmades, cheap olives, etc.). I apologise (being English, that’s what we do whether it’s our fault or not) and offer to buy him an Ouzo to drink with us. He declines, then goes on a full rant to other customers and staff about “us.”
We had our mains and my partner at this point had had enough, leaving me to pay (which I was going to do anyway as it was his birthday) before he got into an altercation with this rude old man who had probably been drinking Ouzo all day, everyday.
I go to pay the bill and the waitress asks if “everything was alright?” That just prompted me to cry (a mean feat as I rarely cry at a thing!) and asked to see Mark (the chef in the kitchen). I tell him what happened; he apologises, and I pay the bill and leave a tip.
My mistake was then to go to their website page and give a review. No cussing or rudeness, just simply saying that for a $35 mezze platter, you would hope it wasn’t all from a jar/packet. The diatribe I got back was that I was “only after a free meal” (after I had paid the whole bill, plus tip, and offered to buy the Vesuvius Old Man a drink!), and that people like me don’t belong in their establishment!! WOW.
Every time I drive past that place, all I see are a couple of lone diners and Vesuvius drinking Ouzo. Shame. His son obviously felt embarrassed enough after I was berated that he now no longer walks his dog in the same place!! Seriously!!! If you’re going to serve up crap that clearly was bought from the local wholesale joint and try and con customers that it is “made on the premises” (when all they did was open a can), then die by your sword. Or Ouzo.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Personally, I would have complained about how I was treated for asking a simple question on their website rather than about the food. You simply asked a question, you didn’t deserve the response you received. Tsk tsk.
Whether they made on site or used store bought stuff, they do get to make any and all decisions regarding the pricing of their menu. The rude thing here was how you were treated for asking a question, but considering you cannot be 100% certain their food wasn't made on site because they simply could just be made poorly, they could also be made on site in the same manner as store bought would be, you cannot be certain so reviewing negatively due to the cost of the item and your belief is wrong, reviewing negatively due to how you were treated is where it should have be left at.
You cried? Because someone at a restaurant was mad that you insulted their food? You need to grow up a little bit.
You're totally missing the point, i eat Greek food all the time and can pretty much tell straightaway if dolmades etc have come out of a huge cheap tin, along with 'Pickled in house veggies'. The point was i only asked if they were made on site- iwas genuinely interested. Their reaction was totally unreasonable, and i cried because i offered to buy the Lord of the Manner a drink for 'offending' him even though THEY had spoiled our night, totally. If i want tinned dolmades and cheap stuffed green olives it would cost me $5, not $35 for an entree.