I went to Nino today, I ordered the fondoto* (which is a starter only available at their gulf road branch, that consist of spinanch, prawns, mushrooms, and fondoto sauce (cream sauce) gratinated and topped with parmesan cheese.) and then their angus certified steak for the main course. I told the waiter twice that I want a medium steak, not a well-done, not a medium-well, but a medium! twice! He brought it over to our table, it looked weird and flat, as in hammered flat (It looked, felt and tasted like a big round burger). I cut it and it was a well done. I called the waiter and complained, he couldn’t believe it coz he said he made sure to tell the chef himself. I said no problem, just replace the steak and this time I want a medium. He goes with my dish, returns 5 minutes later with another well done.

Now I got upset, I called the manager and he came over all nice and smiley and I said I’ve got one question and I need a one word answer. just one word, either yes or no. Does this look like a medium steak to you? He wanted to talk so I interrupted him “Either yes or no.” He then take a closer look and said No this is a medium well.

I asked him to take it off the bill coz I refuse to pay for something I did not order and he did. He was very apologetic too, which is good, made me less upset. But then he called the chef over. The chef came over and he was trembling. I don’t know what happened back in the kitchen for him to come out shaking like that (even my friend noticed. It was weird), and I asked him the same question, is it a medium steak *pointing at the steak* and he said Yes this is a medium steak. So I said ok I have nothing else to say to you, if we couldn’t agree on something this obvious, then there is not point in arguing. But that didn’t stop him. He kept telling me that this is how “their medium looks like” and then branched out to explain about their streaks and (read this carefully) how they Hammer the steaks, yes they hammer them just like a scallop, to make them look larger, and that is why it looks like this. After arguing a bit over how they’re not supposed to hammer a steak, and him not caring for what I had to say, I gave up. Now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t know what hammering the steak got to do with it being overcooked, but at that point I was just nodding him off.

I hate it, just HATE it when I get an over cooked steak after asking them clearly and repeatedly NOT to do so in advance. And this isn’t their first time to screw up a meal.

 

This entry was posted on Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 10:17 pm