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Really stupid things chefs do!

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    #62
    kerash
    Registered Users Posts: 6,688 ✭✭✭kerash


    Sausage and Mash, Pasta in a mushroom sauce and Lamb in a place in midleton last year - sausages were shrivled and obviously reheated, the mash had a skin on it the past was the same, the sauce had a skin and the lamb was like leather.

    with two hungry lads and we had driven from dublin, after a few bites we wanted to complain but there was Noone was there to complain to!! Long story short, i refused to pay the bill I offered a price, *our pasta diner enjoyed their food*


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    #63
    stephenmarr
    Registered Users Posts: 838 ✭✭✭stephenmarr


    @Reallyrose
    a face to face conversation is the only way to go.
    call into them if its not to far out of your way.


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    #64
    the beer revolu
    Registered Users Posts: 17,045 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    the beer revolu wrote: »
    I sent an email to the hotel.
    12 day's later, still no reply:(
    I've resent.

    Update:

    I received the following reply the other day.


    Dear Mr. .....,

    Thank you for your recent mail.

    Firstly I must apologise to you for the lateness of a reply. Your original email of the 2nd February 2011 was forwarded from the main “info” mail in error to an unused email address that is similar to my own. Your follow up email was directed to my mail today.

    I was disappointed to read your comments regarding your visit to our Suttons Bistro. Customer care forms a strong element of the ethos of the Rochestown Park Hotel and is taken very seriously. Feedback is very important to us as it allows us to ascertain if the standards and levels of service set are being achieved. However, in this instance there seems to be some confusion in the Kitchen department that needs to be rectified / reviewed immediately. I can assure you that I will address the areas concerned immediately with both the Executive Chef & the Assistant Bar Manager.

    I can totally understand your frustration regarding your dining experience and apologise most sincerely for the inconvenience caused. I would like to try and redeem your faith in the Rochestown Park Hotel and in Suttons in particular. To make amends I would like to offer you an opportunity to avail of a complimentary Dinner x 2 in Sutton’s Bar & Bistro on a night of your choice (subject to availability). I hope that you will accept this token with our apologies for the inconvenience caused during your last visit.
    Please contact me in advance and I will be happy to organise your reservation for you. I hope that you will not let this isolated incident deter you from returning to the Hotel.
    With Kind Regards,
    Denise Lane
    HR Manager

    Rochestown Park Hotel
    Douglas,
    Cork,
    Ireland


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    #65
    BaZmO*
    Registered Users Posts: 18,625 ✭✭✭✭BaZmO*


    Don't get much better than that. :)


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    #66
    the beer revolu
    Registered Users Posts: 17,045 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    BaZmO* wrote: »
    Don't get much better than that. :)

    Thing is, I really have no interest in eating there:rolleyes:

    But yes, a result.


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    #67
    dh0661
    Registered Users Posts: 2,630 ✭✭✭dh0661


    the beer revolu wrote: »
    Thing is, I really have no interest in eating there:rolleyes:

    I'll go and pretend I'm you. ;)


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    #68
    Truley
    Registered Users Posts: 1,628 ✭✭✭Truley


    I think I have the same pet hates as most posters here. I hate unnecessary or inappropriate garnish. But most of all I hate dishes with misleading names, 'Carbonara' with cream in it, 'Buffalo' wings that are just chicken wings with BBQ sauce. Don't get me wrong, I actually love things like fake Carbonara, I just hate when the restaurants call it something it's not.

    EDIT: Just had a fond reminder of my days waitressing in a Chinese restaurant, spraying whipped cream and raspberry sauce all over those horrible frozen desserts these places always serve ('Tarta Fantastica' and the like) Why do they bother? Especially when the Chinese have such delicious desserts of their own.


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    #69
    Honey-ec
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,844 ✭✭✭Honey-ec


    Truley wrote: »
    But most of all I hate dishes with misleading names, 'Carbonara' with cream in it

    Eva Orsmond, the nutritionist from Operation Transformation is doing a recipe series in the Aldi in-store mag at the moment. About 3 weeks ago there was one called "Pasta Carbonara a la Eva". The ingredients list was:

    Wholewheat pasta
    Grated turnip

    At which point I stopped reading and began a rant. Seriously, why even call that carbonara??? Just call it Pasta a la Eva and be done with it. Arrgghhh!


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    #70
    UrbanSea
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,335 ✭✭✭✭UrbanSea


    That was good of them beer revolu. Good to see they at least care about their customers.


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    #71
    Truley
    Registered Users Posts: 1,628 ✭✭✭Truley


    I just can't let this go without a post. Had a really lousy three course meal last weekend. 'Buffalo wings' that were just deep fried chicken wings with a squirt of Heinz BBQ sauce on the side. The main course was salmon with mash potato and a dollop of sliced, boiled Turnip with cheese sauce - ugh! There was a choice of three desserts but because I wasn't impressed by the meal I decided to play it safe with 'Trio of Ice-cream'. Surely you can't go wrong with three scoops of ice-cream?

    WRONG! For some bizarre reason they decided to cover the stuff in Cinnamon. Not just a sprinkle on the side of the plate to decorate, it permeated the entire dish. Normally I have no problem with the flavour of cinnamon but it's far to overpowering a taste to cover a bowl of Ice-cream with. The vanilla tasted like cinnamon, the strawberry tasted like cinnamon, the chocolate tasted like .... cinnamon! Grr


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    #72
    _blank_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 41,926 ✭✭✭✭_blank_


    Miaireland wrote: »
    Sprinkle Corrinader over things as decoration. I hate the stuff and always avoid anything I would think that it would be in.

    Today I ordered chicken liver pate and it was sprinkled all over it. Why?

    Because some people can't taste Corriander, to them it's just tasteless green leaves.

    Good chefs know this, bad chefs don't.

    I effing hate corriander, and tell waiters I'm allergic to it.

    It's the same with cucumber.


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    #73
    Darkginger
    Registered Users Posts: 695 ✭✭✭Darkginger


    Silliest thing I've ever seen in a restaurant (this was in Killarney several years ago). I ordered salmon with a Hollandaise sauce. I'm sure it would have been lovely - but the plate it came on was so hot that it was salmon with a flat omelette! The sauce had cooked solid.

    In a similar vein to steak, I am sick of getting overcooked salmon (or worse, fresh tuna), even when I ask for it to be seared rather than cooked all the way through. Another thing that annoys me (and the latest perpetrator of this was Moran's 'The Weir' Oyster Cottage, which really surprised me) is when you get breaded garlic mussels and they've used salted butter to make them. Unsalted is MUCH better, 'cos mussels are salty enough to start with. Yes, I'm fussy.

    Salad garnishes can be good if the leaves complement the meal, but all too often they're a random handful of bought-in 'salad', chucked on there to fill a gap on the plate.

    Also - talking about the ubiquitous pesto drizzle, there's a local place that insists on adding a few slices of sundried tomatoes around the edge of their bowls of pasta carbonara, on top of the pesto dribble. It's like they think 'hey, Italian ingredients! They're all Italian, so have to go together!'.

    I sound like a very intolerant diner, but I'm not really. Shepherd's Pie served with potatoes - mashed spuds, or chips, is an exercise in redundancy and lack of thought, too. Lots of it about!

    Edited to add: Des - I too used to hate coriander with a passion, until I got invited to a friend's house for dinner - the poor love had spent hours working on it, but it included a fresh coriander salad, which I forced myself to eat out of politeness. Shedloads of the stuff. Something just clicked in my head, and from that day onwards I've become almost addicted to it - it still tastes the same (sort of soapy?) but now my head tells me that's a good thing. A curry just isn't right without it - and this from someone who used to specify 'no fresh coriander' when ordering.

    Bite the bullet (or the bush!) and force yourself to eat a load of it in one sitting - it might just change your entire take on the stuff :)


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    #74
    Mr Magnolia
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 10,435 Mod ✭✭✭✭Mr Magnolia


    Des wrote: »
    Because some people can't taste Corriander, to them it's just tasteless green leaves.

    It's the same with cucumber.

    I knew about cucumber I didn't know the same applied with Coriander for some people.


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    #75
    The Hill Billy
    Registered Users Posts: 22,778 ✭✭✭✭The Hill Billy


    I love both. Never come to my gaff for dinner Des.

    My old next door neighbour from 30+ years ago still refers to me as "The Cucumber Kid". If I was playing in his house with his daughter he'd always offer us a Curly Wurly or the like. I'd usually ask if he had any cucumber instead. :)


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    #76
    the beer revolu
    Registered Users Posts: 17,045 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    Darkginger wrote: »

    Edited to add: Des - I too used to hate coriander with a passion, until I got invited to a friend's house for dinner - the poor love had spent hours working on it, but it included a fresh coriander salad, which I forced myself to eat out of politeness. Shedloads of the stuff. Something just clicked in my head, and from that day onwards I've become almost addicted to it - it still tastes the same (sort of soapy?) but now my head tells me that's a good thing. A curry just isn't right without it - and this from someone who used to specify 'no fresh coriander' when ordering.

    Bite the bullet (or the bush!) and force yourself to eat a load of it in one sitting - it might just change your entire take on the stuff :)

    I had the same experience.
    Little bits of it revolted me but when I was forced to eat a dish with lots of it, I had that same click and never looked back. I absolutely love the stuff now.


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    #77
    _blank_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 41,926 ✭✭✭✭_blank_


    Darkginger wrote: »

    Bite the bullet (or the bush!) and force yourself to eat a load of it in one sitting - it might just change your entire take on the stuff :)

    NEVER!!!!!


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    #78
    bfocusd
    Closed Accounts Posts: 723 ✭✭✭bfocusd


    Ive not been to the place recently but my thought of joels on the naas road is always:

    every main dish has watercress all over it, be it chicken curry, sunday roast, stirfry and yep steak! No matter what you order its covered in the stuff.
    I got a veg curry once and it had two huge prawn crackers placed on top of the dish standing up and on top of them was the watercress..

    and the desert also no matter what you order it arrives with kumquat all over it, it was even inside an knickerbokerglory (thats some attempt of spelling that)

    the watercress is a fav there though, its on everything, including the any starter or platter we ordered, I even had to pick it out of my soup as it was floating on top..


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    #79
    duploelabs
    Registered Users Posts: 11,455 ✭✭✭✭duploelabs


    Darkginger wrote: »
    Silliest thing I've ever seen in a restaurant (this was in Killarney several years ago). I ordered salmon with a Hollandaise sauce. I'm sure it would have been lovely - but the plate it came on was so hot that it was salmon with a flat omelette! The sauce had cooked solid.

    Chances are it was left under the lamps at the pass for too long


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    #80
    Susie_Q
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Susie_Q


    Not chefs, but I hate when you go to a restaurant and the waiter/ess asks "Do you want black pepper on that?" before you have even tasted your food. How am I supposed to know if the chef has seasoned it properly before I taste it?!!

    GAH! Drives me mad.


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    #81
    duploelabs
    Registered Users Posts: 11,455 ✭✭✭✭duploelabs


    as a chef, i despise people who season their food before they've tasted it


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    #82
    Random_Person
    Registered Users Posts: 328 ✭✭Random_Person


    duploelabs wrote: »
    as a chef, i despise people who season their food before they've tasted it

    I'll agree with you if you're talking solely about salt but pepper is a different story. I love all pasta with a good grinding of pepper and I'll usually put it on my pasta in a restaurant because I'll have had the dish before and know it needs some pepper.. :/


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    #83
    Mellor
    Registered Users Posts: 39,419 ✭✭✭✭Mellor


    Susie_Q wrote: »
    Not chefs, but I hate when you go to a restaurant and the waiter/ess asks "Do you want black pepper on that?" before you have even tasted your food. How am I supposed to know if the chef has seasoned it properly before I taste it?!!

    GAH! Drives me mad.

    If they offer pepper, say normally with a pasta dish, it usually implied the pepper is an optional ingredient and that the chef most likely didn't add pepper to the dish (unless it's a key part.)

    It's not so you can season it properly. :rolleyes:


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