Yesterday was a busy day. Harrison came down with strep throat, which meant we lost 1 1/2 hours to waiting at the clinic, and filling a prescription. Add to that the foot of snow we got yesterday (shovelling is great exercise though) and the "unforseen" subtracted about 4 hours from my day's plans.
Getting Harrison to drink a green juice was hilarious - made from apples and wheatgrass, and coconut milk. I figured it would help his immune system fight off the infection, but it was really him fighting off my insistence that was the real battle! (I loved it though - it was delicious!)
When we finally did get home, I was starving, and ready for a green lunch (more fighters...) so I chopped three crowns of broccoli and the remaining collard greens I had in the fridge into small pieces - almost as small as grains of rice. Heated these quickly in a pan over medium heat with some garlic and olive oil, and of course, lemon zest and juice. We happened to have some crispy "chicken" (made of plant protein Gardein) from Whole Foods, and tossed that up in a separate pan. Added a few generous handfulls of the brown rice from Friday night, and we were eating a green bowlful of healthy vegetables, and whole grains.
Interesting that one of the signs at whole foods lists the relative POWERS of the various foods you should have in your cart. And, not surprisingly, the TOP TEN were all green.
We really didn't eat that many greens, but I have made it my new years' resolution to demystify those little items, so we have been eating quite a lot since January 1st.
So - needless to say by day end, I wanted to just grab a bite to eat that someone else had prepared. We stopped in to Tablouli, the new restaurant in our former beloved Teka. I got there about 10 minutes to 6, the guys shortly thereafter. We ordered just after a table of four, within 5 minutes of the guys getting there.
As we were waiting, a group of about 10 (obviously family or friends of the owners) showed up, and food kept pouring out to their table. The table of four got theirs about 1/2 hour in. We had only ordered 3 wraps and a lentil soup, so after about 40 minutes we were feeling pretty hungry. There were, however, three large empty plates displayed on our table. The "family table" had one woman who kept walking in and out of the kitchen quite comfortably, bringing various items as she came and went.
At 6:45 I asked the waitress about our order. She very politely explained that the table was the sister of a manager (or something like that) and she couldn't bring food that the chef hadn't put out.
10 more minutes later (and three MORE plates to the next table) I asked the guys if they were comfortable walking out. They all agreed.
So we walked to the bar, where the young woman from family table was also standing, and said. "We are leaving. It has been an hour's wait for three sandwiches, but I would like to pay for the wine I had". She again apologized, and said not to worry about it. Harrison caught a glimpse of the other woman's face (aghast!) and told me about it later.
So - we hopped in the car, surprisingly not hungry at all anymore. Sometimes the ONLY VOTE YOU HAVE with what you will put up with is with your money. We dropped into Kelsey's, politely explained to the young lady who seated us that we had just walked out of another restaurant after an hour with no food, and that we'd like three veggie burgers with fries. She said "well, we're glad you're here! I'll put the order in right away."
And she did! We were eating within 18 minutes, and had a great discussion about bad service.
They say that every satisfied customer might tell one or two people about their experience. They also say that a dissatisfied customer will tell 20 than that!
The funny thing was that when a restaurant chooses to prioritize their moochers over their paying customers, it says a lot about the management and the chef. Katie, at Teka, would NEVER have done such a thing.
While we're only one family, I am quite certain that they will never see any of our money again.
Thanks April and Kelsey's for a great dinner last night!
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