Arts 'n' Boards wipeout!
Wednesday rolled around and I had my interview at 10 am. This was with the PR/Marketing agency that I had first stumbled across, a mere 10 minute tram ride from door-to-door, veeery convenient...
This interview also went very well. I would've been one of two interns in a team of five in the 'Food' department of the agency (surprise, surprise...) and the team's clients were Nespresso and the newly acquired...New Zealand wine! Basically this internship seemed made for me...
I left the interview feeling on top of the world, and treated myself to this lovely bunch:
However, despite not having had confirmation from either agency, I already had a creeping feeling that an impossible decision would stand before me. If I should get confirmation from both, who the heck would I choose?!
Sure enough, my suspicions would take form as the first agency called (just a few hours after the interview!) to ask me on board! Since I had also had such a good feeling about the other agency and was still awaiting their response I asked if I could have a night to sleep on it. By 7pm that night, the other agency had also made their offer. Now I was truly stumped!
What to do when stumped? Eat. The plan was to head to a Biergarten, but by the time Kathi arrived and we had shared all the good news (she had got offered a fulltime teaching position) it was so late we just wanted something close.
We headed to Arts 'n' Boards, a cafe/bar/restaurant around the corner. As the name would suggest there was art and boards. Not your fancy collectors art, but rather a smattering of graffiti/street art style pieces.
The menu also reflected this creative, surfer-esque theme. I thought it was very clever in its design, since it was broken down into "surfing sections" (i.e. 'line up' = entrees, 'tuberide' = mains, 'lay back' = desserts etc.) Furthermore it had some truly interesting items and combinations on the menu.
For example the 'Peach and Ricotta ravioli in nutty-butter atop rocket leaves', the 'Green Surfer' -oriental springrolls stuffed with aubergine and goat cheese or perhaps the 'Secret Spot' -"you can ask as long as you like, just order and let yourself be surprised!" I was tempted, but I had had enough surprises for the week so I went with the grilled octopus off the daily specials menu instead.
It was already around 8:30pm by the time we ordered and although we had seen the large group lurking in the corner of the internal Biergarten of Arts 'n' Boards, we thought their food was well underway, especially since the waiter didn't inform us otherwise.
Long story short, we waited a good 45 minutes for our meals. We were not offered bread while we waited, so I asked for it since I was already feeling sick from hunger. The table next to us got their desserts before we got our mains, and the waiter forgot our bread. By this stage I had lost my appetite, and had already told my friends if the food didn't arrive within the next ten minutes I would be leaving.
Happenings like these really frustrate me because no matter how good the food ends up being, I can just no longer enjoy it! I understand places get busy, and groups are always tricky to deal with and the waiters get caught in the firing line but if the chef can't keep up, then the waiter needs to a) inform the customer of this to begin with b) keep the customer updated c) bring bread/nibbles of some sort ASAP and d) not tell the table next door that they now got their dessert as the chef returned from his break! Nooooo...If it's busy, chef doesn't have a break!!
To top it all off, when I ordered I asked if the Chorizo chips that were supposed to come with the grilled Octopus could be left off or replaced with something. He pretty snappily replied "What with?!". I said, I didn't know something vegetarian (some left over veggies? surely the chef could've come up with something creative!) but if it's easier just left off. He reckoned the chef was still busy working on the big order for the large table (although we weren't informed there'd be a wait!) and would have no time for "special requests". Right then...so much for customer service.
When the food finally arrived it was already so dark outside that we had to light up the food with our phones to actually see what we were consuming. This is what it looked like:
Clearly I don't look grumpy since I was just so happy about the fact there was food on the table! But for the 15-something Euros I payed for the octopus, I would've expected a little more. Especially since I didn't have the chorizo-chips and we waited so long for it.
As soon as we put down our cutlery to mark the end of our meal, we were ushered inside since their Biergarten closes at 10pm. It really killed me, because I loved the atmosphere of the place and the menu was such a good start. But the slack almost rude service just ruined everything for me. I'll have to wait and see whether I'll feel like giving them a second chance...
To be honest I had more pressing thing on my mind, like which agency I would intern with for the next six months.
Hope you haven't had any dud meals out or life-changing decisions to make?!
Yours truly,
Fräulein SoulFood x
This interview also went very well. I would've been one of two interns in a team of five in the 'Food' department of the agency (surprise, surprise...) and the team's clients were Nespresso and the newly acquired...New Zealand wine! Basically this internship seemed made for me...
I left the interview feeling on top of the world, and treated myself to this lovely bunch:
However, despite not having had confirmation from either agency, I already had a creeping feeling that an impossible decision would stand before me. If I should get confirmation from both, who the heck would I choose?!
Sure enough, my suspicions would take form as the first agency called (just a few hours after the interview!) to ask me on board! Since I had also had such a good feeling about the other agency and was still awaiting their response I asked if I could have a night to sleep on it. By 7pm that night, the other agency had also made their offer. Now I was truly stumped!
What to do when stumped? Eat. The plan was to head to a Biergarten, but by the time Kathi arrived and we had shared all the good news (she had got offered a fulltime teaching position) it was so late we just wanted something close.
We headed to Arts 'n' Boards, a cafe/bar/restaurant around the corner. As the name would suggest there was art and boards. Not your fancy collectors art, but rather a smattering of graffiti/street art style pieces.
 |
| They probably wouldn't have noticed if I had walked out with one of these under my arm right?! |
For example the 'Peach and Ricotta ravioli in nutty-butter atop rocket leaves', the 'Green Surfer' -oriental springrolls stuffed with aubergine and goat cheese or perhaps the 'Secret Spot' -"you can ask as long as you like, just order and let yourself be surprised!" I was tempted, but I had had enough surprises for the week so I went with the grilled octopus off the daily specials menu instead.
It was already around 8:30pm by the time we ordered and although we had seen the large group lurking in the corner of the internal Biergarten of Arts 'n' Boards, we thought their food was well underway, especially since the waiter didn't inform us otherwise.
Long story short, we waited a good 45 minutes for our meals. We were not offered bread while we waited, so I asked for it since I was already feeling sick from hunger. The table next to us got their desserts before we got our mains, and the waiter forgot our bread. By this stage I had lost my appetite, and had already told my friends if the food didn't arrive within the next ten minutes I would be leaving.
Happenings like these really frustrate me because no matter how good the food ends up being, I can just no longer enjoy it! I understand places get busy, and groups are always tricky to deal with and the waiters get caught in the firing line but if the chef can't keep up, then the waiter needs to a) inform the customer of this to begin with b) keep the customer updated c) bring bread/nibbles of some sort ASAP and d) not tell the table next door that they now got their dessert as the chef returned from his break! Nooooo...If it's busy, chef doesn't have a break!!
To top it all off, when I ordered I asked if the Chorizo chips that were supposed to come with the grilled Octopus could be left off or replaced with something. He pretty snappily replied "What with?!". I said, I didn't know something vegetarian (some left over veggies? surely the chef could've come up with something creative!) but if it's easier just left off. He reckoned the chef was still busy working on the big order for the large table (although we weren't informed there'd be a wait!) and would have no time for "special requests". Right then...so much for customer service.
When the food finally arrived it was already so dark outside that we had to light up the food with our phones to actually see what we were consuming. This is what it looked like:
 |
| Julia's salad with watermelon and feta and TWO WHOLE PRAWNS...how generous... |
 |
| Kathi's steak and salad, perfectly medium -she was happy. |
 |
| My grilled octopus. |
Clearly I don't look grumpy since I was just so happy about the fact there was food on the table! But for the 15-something Euros I payed for the octopus, I would've expected a little more. Especially since I didn't have the chorizo-chips and we waited so long for it.
As soon as we put down our cutlery to mark the end of our meal, we were ushered inside since their Biergarten closes at 10pm. It really killed me, because I loved the atmosphere of the place and the menu was such a good start. But the slack almost rude service just ruined everything for me. I'll have to wait and see whether I'll feel like giving them a second chance...
To be honest I had more pressing thing on my mind, like which agency I would intern with for the next six months.
Hope you haven't had any dud meals out or life-changing decisions to make?!
Yours truly,
Fräulein SoulFood x
Comments
Post a Comment