And You Thought Fawlty Towers Was Bad?

[Guest fountainhall]

OK, now time for a restaurant you should definitely avoid! For a coffee and a nice French cake, Le Notre can be enjoyable, but pricey. For dinner, it is like dining in an odd sort of war zone. On a par, perhaps, with Fawlty Towers – but without the fun!

My friend and I met for dinner on Sunday at Le Notre in Langsuan. We had once eaten there before, but it was so long ago we could not remember anything about it – apart from a dripping aircon. Well, surprise, surprise! The same aircon was still dripping this time. So we first moved the table over a bit to ensure none of the drip found its way into our food.

The waiter came over to take our drinks order. Now I have to admit that there was no comparison between him and Manuel – Manuel was far better. This gentleman, of indeterminate nationality but definitely not Thai, was linguistically challenged when it came to English. Of the drips, all he would say was "Well, it's hot outside!"

 

I was thirsty and ordered a bottle of water to start. Manuel arrived with two full glasses and the rest in the plastic bottle. My friend did not want water. What does Manuel do? He pours the water from that glass back into the bottle! I jest not!

And what of the food? Tasteless soups – a fish soup that had all of two pieces of prawn in it and a chilled cucumber soup that was more like cold milk that had not seen a cucumber for a number of years. The hamburger that followed fell apart into several small pieces. Well, I guess that saves on knives. What was advertised as an Australian Beef Stroganoff Pie ended up being a soggy microwaved pie with a dozen mushrooms and, if you scanned it with a strongish magnifying glass, 4 or 5 of the tiniest threads of beef you’ve ever come across.

For dessert, my friend was given a wine list rather than a dessert menu! Manuel’s comment: “What is the problem?” Eventually a Pistacchio Shortcake with various trimmings was chosen. This duly arrived – but without the trimmings. We asked Manuel to compare the menu description with the cake on the plate. He just looked and again saw no problem. We then pointed out the problem. His reply – “But this is how we always serve it!”

At this point, I rather lost it, went to reception to get the name of the General Manager to write to him the next day – for Le Notre is part of Naturalville, itself part of the Accor group. How I got the manager’s name and email is itself worth a new post. So I’ll just say it took several minutes and various tries on behalf of a particularly clueless receptionist.

In the meantime, my friend was chuckling to himself, for what was being played over the PA? “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas!” Ah, well, I suppose December is not so far away.

Now it’s time for the bill. How it happened, goodness only knows, but not one but two items were overbilled. Both had service and tax included, but service and tax was also included after the total. Manuel saw nothing wrong – even after we pointed it out and compared it to the menu pricing. So my friend took photos to send to the manager the next day.

I, though, was not prepared to wait. I stormed over to reception and demanded to see the Duty Manager! It turned out the elusive General Manager himself was dining outside. He came in, agreed the bill was unacceptable and we then had our pretty dreadful meal “on the house”. The following day, I mailed and thanked him for this, at the same time giving him a long report of all the many failings we had experienced.

This was by far the worst dining experience of any description I have had in many, many years. Avoid dining at Le Notre's restaurant at all costs! Not even John Cleese himself could have cheered us up last Sunday!

 

[ChristianPFC]

Of the drips [edit: water from aircon], all he would say was "Well, it's hot outside!"

 

My friend did not want water. What does Manuel do? He pours the water from that glass back into the bottle! I jest not!

 

 

That is similar to my experience in a gogo bar (X-Size about 3 weeks ago). I mentioned to the waiter/mamasan that the music is too loud. He replied "it's always like this". I am fed up with this, so next time I am asked "Do you want boy?" in a bar where the music is too loud, I will reply "sorry, I can't hear you, can you lower the music" until they give up, get the joke or lower the music.

 

I can eclipse that. Long time ago, but I still vividly remember, I had dinner with my parents in an expensive restaurant. I had coke, which was brought in a glass with ice and a slice of lemon. After midnight, only few guests were left, I ordered another one and the waiter came with the bottle and poured the coke over my shoulder into the empty glass standing on the table (the glass, not the waiter).