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Exhibit A. And what's up with the fries?: Syd Kearney : 29-95
This has not been my best dining month and, while ordinarily I would let it go, I thought that the readers of this column might feel my pain. So far this month, I’ve been served:
So Thursday, I’m going to say thanks for a hot, homemade meal. Hope your holiday is dandy, too.
READER RANT
Asma Ahmed: Cafe Caspian, 12126 Westheimer, 281-493-4000
“Unfortunately, I am writing to whine about one of my family’s favorite neighborhood restaurants. We have patronized (Cafe Caspian) many times, planned a very special dinner for friends in their party room and brought home food from there on numerous occasions.
However, last Friday, my husband and I went there with my elderly parents and were told that we would be seated shortly. After that, the hostess practically disappeared, basically to party with a group of her friends, where she busily participated in celebrations and much picture-taking.
In the meantime, a couple of tables had been cleared off, but no one was bothering to seat us. I walked over to a young man who seemed to be in charge and mentioned to him that my parents really needed to be seated and there seemed to be some open tables available. He said that the open tables were for five people and he could not seat a party of four at them so we would have to continue to wait.
Mind you, a party of three had just vacated one of those tables. He also said he had several reservations for that night, and in the past we have been told that they do not accept reservations. I felt as if our business was no longer welcome at Caspian, and so we left.
I guess the next time we have a craving for Persian food, we will be driving a little bit closer in to Hillcroft, where there is no shortage of decent Persian places.
On a happier note, we were so hungry by this point that we proceeded across the street to Pappadeaux, which was much busier. We were pleasantly greeted and assured that we would be seated within 10 minutes. Before 10 minutes were up, we had a table, and we had a delicious meal, as well as a very kind waitress and wonderful service. The manager stopped by a couple of times to ask how things were, and, all-in-all, the attention given us was more on the par of a friendly neighborhood joint than a place that is part of a large chain of restaurants.
Our only complaint was that it was very noisy, but that’s a small price to pay for being treated with courtesy and respect.”
What is the deal with cold food lately? It seems like every time I dine out now something on the plate is not hot! We went to Benihana's yesterday for lunch and sat in the lounge area to dine instead of the grill tables. We had to send our entire plates back two times. After the second time, the manager said, "I'll go have this prepared on the hibachi table." It came back hot finally. That is unacceptable! We complained but it didn't seem to matter.
I try to review restaurants good and bad on b-4-u-eat.com It seems like most of the negatives are from cold food.
I had a burger at Dine-O-Bite that wasn't just "not hot"--it was actually colder than room temp. Yuck!
It does seem to be epidemic of late.
Syd, at which Barnaby's did you get the cold food? I ask, because we had that experience for our take-out order last night. We traditionally get great food at the Fairview location. Since we live near the Shepherd location, we use it for our "to go" options. Twice I've been disappointed with the fries at that location. I love Barnaby's fries, but I don't get them often. If I'm going to cave in to a craving, I don't want to be disappointed. It's like getting socks for your birthday.
Last night was horrible. There was a slight mistake in one of our orders. I found that the brown rice was cold and dry, and the broccoli was not freshly cooked. At best, it had been sitting in a pot for a while. Until last night, I'd never had leathery broccoli. Like the rice, it was cold. That said, The chicken breast was hot and amazing. I'm wondering if the experience is limited to one location, or if overall quality is going down.
My cold meal was served at the new downtown location.
After an especially bad day, I like to go to the Barnaby's on W. Gray and indulge in a grilled cheese and fries. It's always disappointing when the fries arrive less than piping hot. I've been served cold fries on two occasions at that location.
And yet I still find myself going and playing hot fry roulette.
That's because their fries are made with potatoes, seasoning, and just a WEE bit of crack. ;) Seriously, though, they have my favorite fries.
I know what you mean - nothing is worse that lukewarm soup and I have been getting that a lot lately.
With regard to B-4-u-Eat - I had a weird experience with them. I visited a new local restaurant based on a strong favorable review (the only one). After a disappointing experience, I wanted to post my experience. It was never posted. My review was not a rant, complimented them on their favorable points, etc., but honestly reflected my experience. A quick Google revealed others who had experienced the same thing. Seems they have joined the dark side of biased reporting. I have since abandoned them for yelp.
Dear unknown Customer,
I am the owner of Dine-O-Bite, burgers, fries and pies. I am so sorry to hear you had a bad experience at Dine-O-Bite with a cold
burger. This is so uncommon for us simply because we cook our
burgers to order. This is my first time hearing of such a bad
experience with our burger. I do apolize to you for this experience.
I never like to have a dissatified customer. If you would please
contact me at the posted Dine-o-Bite 832-427-5153, to not get what we offer in quality food and service.please allow me
to give you a complementary meal on me.
I thank you again for you business.
Owner/Management
I've never had a bad mean at Cafe Caspian, but if you're looking for good Persian food not far from there try Kasra. Gessner and Westheimer, southwest corner, at the crux of the strip center.
Cold food? It sounds like restaurants are finally getting ready for the cap and trade Obama taxes that will tax businesses for their "carbon footprint." The energy not used to keep your food hot will benefit the earth in some weird, unmeasurable, liberal way. Congrats America.
Really? Blaming this on Obama? Please stay in Katy.
Wondering if Asma was experiencing dome religious racism at Caspan? It sure sounds like they were not welcome there?
It's also possible that Cafe Caspian provided poor service because Asma is gay. If you read between the lines I think you can pick that out of the article.
Or maybe they were crowded and having trouble keeping up and that any group that happened to be there at that time would have had the same problem.
This is one of the nuttiest comments I have ever read.
And that's saying a lot, Allie baby. ;-)
In reality, the nuttiness was on the part of the staff at Caspian and likey resulted from religious discrimination. As much as you may not want to admit it.
I was referring to Brucer's comment, not yours. I don't really understand yours, but it doesn't seem nutty to me.
I really didn't feel as if there was any religious or sexual discrimination. It was just plain bad customer service, hence the sense of disappointment in what used to be a family favorite.
Really?? A political rant on a food page? Are you serious? Poor taste.
For all the carping that the foodie snobs do here on 29-95 regarding anything with the name Pappas attached to it, let me be the first to say that (a) they give you lots of delicious food at a great price and (b) they are the first to fix it if there is something wrong with it. I defy anyone to say that it isn't so.
If I had a choice between Underbelly or Pappadeaux's, I'd take the Pappas place. At least you won't leave hungry there after paying a fortune for a meal designed around snob-appeal (I'm looking at you, Oxheart).
While I do enjoy Pappa's restaurants and dine there frequently for both the food and the service, we went to Underbelly last night and had a fantastic meal, above par with Pappa anything, left completely full, with wine for $125 for two. That may seem high but for the quality, inventiveness and use of local ingredients, not to mention the impeccable service, I think its a bargain.
Uh, NatTxn, it's "Pappas" with no apostrophe. Pappas is the full last name of the founder. It's Greek, you know. There is no such restaurant as "Pappa." Just a word to the wise.
I will agree that they give great portions, but not at a great price....
Blame EVERYTHING on Bush, NOT PRESIDENT Obama, ok?! I personally believe it's the lack of interest in the people who are in management and those cooking the food. I've been experiencing the same thing with the cold food when dining out. Something has GOT to be done. Houston has far too many great restaurants to have this type of thing going on and could very well be the "restaurant capital". I'd hate for out-of-towners to come to Houston and experience poor quality dining, that's a NO GO!, not good for our already great reputation. STEP UP HOUSTON!