Restaurant Rules;
If you are right, make sure the waiter doesn’t treat you like an idiot.
Out for a casual dinner on Boxing Day evening, I ate at Pizza e Birra in St Kilda. Having dined there also a few months back I was looking forward to an alternate to my usual i Carusi pizza joint.
Every thing was going fine, apart from my warm Campari soda on arrival, (not enough ice combined with warm mixers, don’t make a very refreshing aperitif), but I coped.
After some usual Italian inspired entrees, bresaola, prosciutto and crumbed mozzarella, our pizza and salad were delivered. The pizza was as ordered, and served with a crisp base and generous toppings, yet the salad, something along the lines of Insalata Verde; baby spinach, beans, asparagus, peas and goats cheese, just didn’t look right.
First impressions were that it was overdressed and wilted, so I dug into the pizza until I felt the need for some greens.
Upon picking up the bowl, it was really warm, I stuck in the service cutlery and it wilted further in front of me. After a glance at PDC for reassurance, I gave the eye to our waiter.
“I don’t think our salad looks right and …”, as he took it out of my hand he finished “and the bowls warm”. He took it back to the kitchen.
The thing about this is I am a pretty easy going customer, I rarely return food or complain, unless it is a serious oversight (like a small metal nail in a scallop sashimi dish at Tetsuyas a few years back!), so I was seriously surprised when the waiter came back to our table a few minutes later with the same salad and a story that he was new and didn’t know that it was a warm salad and that’s how it was meant to be…
Well, my restaurant experience flared in me now, “okay sure, but the menu said, spinach and this is rocket (pointing at the leaves), it also said, asparagus which is missing and we have zucchini and no peas”, “So I’ll bring a new salad them?” he asked, I nodded with a polite smile. A good waiter could have saved this situation, yet ours didn’t stand a chance, with one of the lamest stories in the book, I’m new. I really just didn’t care; I just wanted a salad that didn’t look like it had been under the salamander.
As we finished our pizza, our new salad was delivered, to my silent amusement, the chef had stood his/her ground and the vegetables were all warm, the rocket was now spinach and all the right bits were there.
It’s a shame because as PDC summed up, it sounded such a promising combination, yet it was so wrong. Overdressed salad leaves, in a hot bowl with hot vegetables and soft goats curd dolloped over the top, inviting it was not.
And an idiot I am not, especially when I have to tell the waiter that he forgot to put our wine on the bill, along side the $11 they charged us for the salad. (Of which I don’t mind as we did technically eat it, but again a good waiter would not charge for something that they even noticed was not ‘right’.)
Restaurant Rules; if it is wrong make sure you let them know why, sometimes it’s a mistake, sometimes it’s just a wrong chef.
Jack
Hmmmmm..... the warm salad sounds delish! he, he...
ReplyDeleteSaw PDC last night (no dodgy salads there!)- big congrats x
Shame, I've had good salads to date. Early on the pizza segments flopped but now they are pert and the topping isn't slipping off. Where do you rank the pizzas vs carussi, Wolf and Ladro?
ReplyDeleteCheers Christie!
ReplyDeleteEd - it was a shame, as I had enjoyed it last visit just after your post. The food is good, if lacking a bit of creative presentation, ie the bresaola and carpaccio looked exactly the same, meat around the plate with rocket salad in middle... dull.
Yes you are right about the pizza it was a bit softer the first time and a bit heavier on the cheese which meant that the toppings were sliding off, but tasted great.
In regards to comparing pizzas, if Ladro, i carusi, Mr Wolf and Pizza e Birra where all side by side, I would probabley choose Ladro, the bases are always perfect and crispy and the toppings have a quality/boutique-y aspect, next would be i Carusi because they have some great pizza topping combos, the bases are pretty right on and the other bits you can get their such as meats, olives, salads are always consistently good. I haven't been back to Mr Wolf for a long time, I have a problem with value-for-money aspects there (and the large numbers of kids often in prams!)and I spend enough $ at the Wine Room to ease my local conscience.
I'm hanging out to get up to Carlton to DOC has I have heard that the pizza there are very high attention to detail. I use to eat the taglio pizzas around the corner at Carlton espresso when I worked in the area a few years back and they were always great.
One other gripe I have with Pizza e Birra is that the pizzas are too big, I like to be able to get two smaller ones and share with PDC instead of having to negiotiate the one style.
What about pizza degustation?
There's a concept that I think could work, all cooked to order as usual, yet as small as a bread plate so you can have multiple flavour combos.
Does this appeal to anyone else?
Jack
You are right about them being too big, especially for those tiny tables. The thing to do at Mr Wolf is to go to the bar which is much more relaxed. The salads are superb there. I rarely get to Ladro as Pizza sn't a meal I premeditate and you need to book to get in.
ReplyDeleteHowever good the pizzas are I still miss Luxe which used to allow dogs in the bar and Termini which was great value. If the truth be told I find it difficult to walk past the wine room where the small dishes are quite large for $18/19 and the food is underrated by the guides.
Ed - Ladro is special to me and through I love the pizza there I would always have the other bits as well, the roast, the appetisers. The service is acutely aware, as good as any of the best restaurants. As far as I understand they don't always book all the tables so if you are early-ish, you can get a table perhaps after a glass of wine across the road at Enoteca, a win-win.
ReplyDeleteThe Wine Room is definately undervalued by the guide, perhaps because it can be a little inconsistant, but hey, its a wine room and obviously loved by the locals.
Jack