Dubai Consumer Mirror

Friday, November 03, 2006

Real Moments in Real Dubai Restaurants

This is a sample of some of the interesting moments I faced (and still face) while dining in Dubai's renowned restaurants. Nothing is made up, all 100% true.

Me: Excuse me, the chicken you brought me is raw
Hostess: Sorry about that, our chef is new.
(btw, this happened last night)

Me: Hi, we need a table for 4 please
Hostess: We are fully booked sir, I can give you a table now but we will need it back at 9
(conversation took place at 8:30)

Me: Can I have a plain burger please, no cheese
Hostess: We only have cheese burgers, sir

Me: I'd like to have the sample platter please - split it half cheese fries and half buffalo wings
Host: We can't give you half/half. We can only serve one-third/two-thirds only.
(sounds familier?)

Me: Can you make me fresh lemon juice please? (I was catching a cold and needed a fix of Vit C)
Host: Here you go sir, 1 fresh lemon juice (Host gives me a pre-filled plastic cup with yellow liquid)
Me: umm.. can you prepare a new one please? I need it fresh
Host: It is 100% fresh sir, it arrived from the factory only last night

Me: There is a bug in my Salad
Restaurant Manager: I am sorry, but i can't get inside every piece of lattes to check if it was clean or not!
(He does have a point there)

Waiter: Excuse me, you left a tip on the TIP section in the credit card slip
Me: yes
Waiter: We don't get that tip - are you carrying cash?
(since that day, I always pay with credit card, leave tip in cash)

posted by moryarti at 11/03/2006 06:38:00 PM

13 Comments:

  • Heh!

    Not to mention that you or Mrs M never seem to get the food you ordered - or it arrives after the other meals! :-)

    I wish that I could have been as blunt during my stints working in hospitality!

    By Blogger nzm, at November 3, 2006 at 8:03 PM  

  • Yeah, I never credit card tip, I think most managment are absolute thieving bastards here, given the pittance they pay their staff.

    The most irritating thing I have is going to dine at 7/7.30, and being seated in some shitty table because all the nice ones are "reserved". We eat our meal, pay, and leave - usually in about an hour and a half to two hours - and the "reserved" tables are all still complete empty.

    What this really symbolises is the fact that the hospitality sector isn't actually doing as well as they'd like to have us believe. Because if it was, there would be two defined seating times to cope with capacity. They would plan for 7.30pm diners to be able to give way for 9.30/10pm diners - as it is, they don't.

    By Blogger secretdubai, at November 3, 2006 at 10:09 PM  

  • Oh yes - and you're far better off with lime juice for a cold.

    By Blogger secretdubai, at November 3, 2006 at 10:11 PM  

  • I can imagine that to be so brilliantly true. It's almost as if the staff working in the restaurants of Dubai is so well trained, that sometimes they give the same monotonous answer in wrong cases:

    An example case:
    (I call the KFC/Pizza Hut lan line and place an order ofr 2 medium pizzas. My dad wants to add buffalo wings to it, so I call again)

    Operator: Good afternoon sir, how may I help you?
    Me: I'm just gave an order...
    Operator: Kentucky or Pizza Hut?
    Me: Pizza Hut, but I have already given my order. I wanted too...
    Operator: Your order will be there in 35 minute, thank you for calling, have a good night.
    Did my dad get his buffalo wings? No.

    RRRight - slightly exaggerated at some instants - but that has happened in tits and bits - and its really really annoying.

    Anyway, hilariously-relatable post. Enjoyed it.

    By Blogger anish, at November 4, 2006 at 12:24 AM  

  • ROTFLMAO

    By Blogger Keef, at November 4, 2006 at 8:01 AM  

  • Talking about the NIMNULS at KFC/PIZZAHUT?
    I wonder what they do in their free time?
    I suspect they teach driving at the likes of Belhasa and such.

    By Blogger *, at November 4, 2006 at 9:08 PM  

  • absolutely hilarious

    By Blogger Haroun el Poussah, at November 4, 2006 at 9:50 PM  

  • :) Bang on...I've always felt the hotel staff in this part of the world are sweet, but not smart.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 5, 2006 at 11:20 AM  

  • Well since you started it, last weekend we went to the new fancy Lebanese rest in Jumeria, we had a reservation so we did not go through the trouble of waiting for an hour, but I guess the grace does not last enough... I ordered Taboulah without ONION, cuz I hate it and I letteraly stated that I would not eat it if there was onion in it, 45 mins passed and the orderd arrived, and guess what? Yeah you guessed, ONION... I told the waiter "There is Onion in it, I said no onion, I was clear enough", the waiter " I am sorry sir, if you want I can get you another one, but it would take another 45 mins, what do you say? or you know what? Let me take the onion for you." ME " NO thanks, I will have the onion"
    Gosh...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 6, 2006 at 10:26 AM  

  • Sorry forgot to mention the name of the rest, it was "Shu"

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 6, 2006 at 10:26 AM  

  • This made me chuckle and made me think of the poised question 'How would you like your chicken, sir?'

    'Cooked please' I always reply.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 6, 2006 at 11:55 AM  

  • Fair enough, he can't check the lettuce for bugs. But all he had to do was say: "Excuse me, I will bring you a new one". No?

    By Blogger Shaykhspeara Sha'ira, at November 7, 2006 at 2:25 AM  

  • Hmmm - we had a quite large and nicely dressed garden cockroach in a friend of mine's salad a few days ago at a FANCY beach hotel next to a famous sail shaped Dubai landmark...at least her meal was free. The rest of us had to pay for our uneaten portions.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 21, 2006 at 11:16 PM  

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