A group of us went to Bib and Tucker for a dear friends birthday lunch last week. It was a terrible experience. First of all the Seafood stew that we had was so tough, the octopus was actually inedible. We didn't complain and picked through it, but I advised the waitress that it was really tough. She came back offering us a free desert, which I thought was good service. I didn't really want one, but was intrigued with the Jerusalem artichoke Ice cream, so thought I would give it a taste. Now, let me explain that I am a chef, and I also own and run a homemade Ice cream and dessert bar, so I am always up for trying something new. When the dessert came out, I was a little confused, as the ice cream didn't actually taste of much at all, and it had some weird texture to it with some kind of cookie crumb in it, and not tasting at all like Jerusalem artichoke, I asked the waitress what was in the ice cream, she went to over to the chef, I could see her asking about it. The Chef (not sure if she was the head chef or not, but certainly seemed to be the one in charge and on the dockets) seemed to immediately develop an attitude, (we were at the table right next to the kitchen, so could clearly see all of this) The waitress came back and told us that there is no cookies or anything in it, and its just Jerusalem artichoke, (like I didn't know what that would be) All of us at the table had a taste, as we were all food lovers and interested to try something new. None of us got it... Anyway, we just ate this dessert with the non Jerusalem artichoke ice cream. I could see the kitchen staff obviously got upset about this, which I found highly unprofessional, and it made us all feel very uncomfortable that they were making it obvious that they thought we were all idiots, and the aforementioned chef, had this horrible smarmy look on her face. A few minutes later... out comes our waitress (who by the way, was doing a really good job) She had actually gotten to the bottom of it for us, and came out with a tiny bowl of Jerusalem artichoke ice-cream. Turns out the dessert chef had put the wrong ice cream on our dessert. I get it, mistakes are made, I am a chef, and have had 25 years experience working in restaurants around the world. What I am upset about is that we had been made to feel like we were making a big deal over something so small that it actually kind of ruined our whole experience. Also, we had eaten the main part of the dessert, so when we finally did get to taste the correct ice cream, we had no dessert to eat it with, (would have been nice if they had given us the whole plate to taste properly). I thanked the waitress for trying.
I was going to write a letter to the manager to complain, rather than write a review here, but then I realized that she actually was the one who was completely avoiding us and seemed to be having a good old laugh with the chef about our confusion over the ice cream. What a ridiculous situation, over a tiny mistake. That manger, in my opinion should to be fired, (its not the first time we have been here and treated rudely by her) and the chef needs a good talking too. When your on public display its not professional to pull faces when your customers are sitting right there and simply asking a question about their dish.
We were a table of five, and only one of us, (who had the fish and chips) was happy with their food. It was a sad experience, and none of us will go back there, which is a shame as its a fantastic location. We all left hungry, and very heavily out of pocket, and the manager seemed like she couldnt give a rats!!! No thanks