poniedziałek, 10 maja 2010

What to Take Away from the Chinese Restaurant

Today, for the first time, in my blog, I want to recommend a business.
On Saturday, we decided to order our lunch from a Chinese restaurant. My wife, who was returning from the centre, would collect the food from the restaurant and bring it back. This is one of the benefits of this restaurant, we are able to phone in our order, and then it is ready when we collect it. But this is not why I want to recommend them.
This was to be our younger children's first experience of Chinese food, so we made sure we could order different -but not too exotic- choices for lunch. The restaurant's menu is varied, and everybody can find something they like. We ordered Sweet and Sour Pork, Beef Chop Suey and Crispy Chicken, with three portions of rice, and a portion of prawn crackers. This was more than enough for the five of us, as our restaurant is generous with the portions. But this is not why I want to recommend them.
My wife came back with the food, and as we unpacked the bags, we realised there were only two main courses there. We checked the bill, and saw that we had, indeed, paid for three. What happened next is why I want to recommend them.
My wife telephoned the restaurant and asked if she had left the third main course there. I heard her give our address, and then she said thank you and hung up. She said that the restaurant were sending the food right away.
Five minutes later, there was a knock on the door of out fourth-floor-without-a-lift flat. When I opened it, the manager of the restaurant was standing there, breathless, holding our missing Sweet and Sour Pork, together with a complimentary carton of juice and an apology.
This kind of service is becoming more common in Krakow, but it is far from normal.
Once, we ordered a pizza that should have taken 30 minutes, and took two hours to come. When I complained to the delivery person, he shrugged, and said "Traffic". I told him that the time was unacceptable, and asked him what he could do to compensate. Again, he shrugged his shoulders, and said "if you don't want it, don't pay for it, and I'll take it back". I asked him to wait while I phoned his manager. I called, and said I had placed an order two hours before, and they had delivered the pizza 90 minutes later than they had said they would. The manager said "yeah, traffic". I asked him if he expected me to pay the full price for the pizza, and he said "well, if you don't want it, tell the driver to bring it back."
We have not ordered from that pizzeria since this event. This is not such a problem, as there are many pizzerias in our area. Anyway, I think we'll be ordering Chinese more often.