I had taken my family for dinner at Fish Cove’s much acclaimed sea shore restaurant. Being a Sunday I could not get a good table closer to the beach which was alright as it was quite crowded by 8 pm.
However what followed is one of the most disappointing experiences in my experience with the Taj Group of hotels. First time in my life did I experience asking to be seated despite making a reservation. There was not even a customary or a courtesy greeting by the pot bellied waited who sauntered to us while waiting to be seated, a perfunctory pointing of his head to the direction of a harassed looking Hostess.
At this point of time my Antennae were already up and was seriously in a dought if I had made a mistake of coming to dinner to a place where basic courtesies cannot be followed. Just the thought of having driven a good 45km to this place and being a sunday and all, I thought that a risk would be in place. What followed a disaster of sorts....To make a long ordeal short I will summarize my experience with the family that evening in bullet points.
Uncaring attitude of waiters. Requests had to be repeated at least 2 times before it would get done! for e.g. being dark we were struggling to read the menu and despite requesting for some candle light it was complied with almost 20 minutes later that too when I had to get emphatic about it.
First time ever beer being served barely cold which was an irritant by itself and then finding out that the expats sitting on the next Table who I assume had complained about beer not being cold enough being served with the bottles in Wine chillers! Talk about being servile to the white skinned.
Despite mentioning that I like my Ice Cubes to be in a totally solid form before mixing in my drink, it was not to be. I continued getting the irritatingly partly melted Ice cubes for the consecutive rounds! Hey please do correct me if I am being too demanding. I feel this is the bare minimum that I should expect from the Taj group’s much vaunted hospitality.
Being a lover of sea food I decided to have some grilled prawns that turned out to be a sorry state of affair. Tasted much better prawns even at a smaller joints llke Fisherman’s fare in Egmore, Chennai. More of the FIsheman’s Fare at a later date though. I was waiting for the waiter to enquire about how the food was at least once the whole meal, that was not to happen! Again not to miss the Chef hovering about like an expectant mother cat at the above mentioned expat’s Table. At any point in time there were 5-6 waiters hovering about and there was this poor sod at my Table who did not even have a proper help to pick up our food and serve. He was the Station waiter cum serving and picking up food and drinks. Talk about being short-staffed!
My wife and a friend who are vegetarian’s quite enjoyed their Starter. And her cocktails were also thoughtfully done! Appreciate the chap who fixed their drinks.
In a nutshell the first time in my life where I decided that I was not going to hazard the main course and decided that the better thing to do would be to quietly allow my poor wife to order her food and the dessert and leave.
I was quite happy to order a nice grilled Lobster dinner with another hungry bachelor friend for company at Fisherman’s Fare later that evening.
Needless to add, Fisherman’s cove gets a major Thumbs down in my list for such gross insouciant service and their grating servile behavior towards the expats. GRRRRRRR!
Endnote:WHAH WHAH TAJ for the lousy experience and don’t forget that though the color of my Skin is brown my money is good!
Subash