May I take your order?

I was randomly chatting with Afrocentric and Nsoromma the other day about going out for dinner when we all remembered one of the most excruciating dining experiences ever! How it ever slipped my mind I'll never know but of course it had to be blogged about.

So sometime last year, this restaurant (which shall remain nameless) was doing a promotion where you'd come and have lunch or dinner from a menu with no prices on it and then in lieu of a bill, you'd pay as much as you think the meal was worth. Sounds like a great deal right? So of course, being the cheapskates and lovers of eating out that we are, Afrocentric, Nsromma and I trekked down to Farringdon looking for the said restaurant. Ah screw it, the restaurant's called The Little Bay. So after going up and down Mount Pleasant and Farringdon Road we eventually find the place right by where we first started. Isn't that always the case? By this stage we were cold, hungry and irritable and the fact that we had to wait for a table didn't exactly help manners.

We were finally seated and by this time we had warmed up enough to take in our surroundings. Woooooooow! This place was rocking velvet flipping ceilings! Add to this the huge frieze (or whatever it was) of Poseidon, the random gold trimmings, and the portly Mediterranean bloke who was wandering through the tables singing shrill opera. The impact of the décor was so powerful that I actually don't remember much about the food. It was perfectly fine I suppose but nothing to write home about.
 The real excitement began when it was time to pay the bill. We'd already decided to pay a fiver each before even entering the place but when it actually came down to it, the pressure was unbelievable. The three gloating women who had happily trekked halfway across London in search of an (almost) free meal disappeared. Beads of sweat appeared on our top lips and surreptitious glances were made towards the door. We eventually came up with a plan that we'd pay 10 pounds TOTAL between the three of us and Nsoromma and Afrocentric would take the lead out of the door whilst I stayed to paid the bill. This seem like a great plan in theory but the execution was another story. My nerves began to fail me when the waitress came to ask if "everything was okay" as she saw us trying to slyly slip on our coats and scarves. It also didn't help that we were the only black people in there as well. Way to disprove the stereotypes about black people being stingy girls! Nsoromma and Afrocentric "conveniently" found something fascinating on their phones and sidled out of the door. I sat there for about half a second before grabbing my bag, throwing down the tenner and practically sprinting out of the door. We collapsed in fits of giggles as soon as we put daylight between ourselves and the restaurant.

This restaurant had a genius marketing plan. Enough people were probably so terrified of looking stingy that they overpaid on their meals, therefore offsetting cheapskates like us. Nevertheless, this was definitely one of the most painful dining experiences I've ever had. So it's over to you. Can you beat our experience? Let's hear it!


(On a side note: there's a Jamaican Restaurant in South Norwood called "Rastarant" and I've always thought this was the greatest name ever! Any good restaurant names to share?)

5 opinionated people have something to say:

Shameless said...

haha love how you decided to throw in the name of the restaurant anyway!what some of us would do for a free meal!

Nsoromma...Child of the Heavens said...

This day was soooo funny! I remember laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. Afrocentric was the funniest thou, she practically ran out of that restaurant in her embarrassment. And her rushing made us sooo conspicuous. Cringe, cringe. So I did the only thing I knew how, I LEGGED IT! Muhahaha

Myne said...

That sure sounds like a funny experience. Me I would have kept a straight face and brazen it out, lol.

Afrocentric said...

I remember that night clearly. There was nothing funny about it at all...from the trekking from Russell Square, to the cold, to the opera "singer" and of course the whole bill fiasco.

What you forgot to say, is instead of the bill, they present you with a list of everything you have ordered, which details the prices of any drinks you have ordered, and gives you the opportunity to write out how much you want to tip your waiter.

So let's do a bit of maths: 2.45 went towards a glass of wine, and £2 was a tip for the waiter. Which meant we actually paid £5.55 for three 3 course meals!! paahaa!

Sankofa said...

@Abena You know! The cheapness of students never fails to amaze me.

@Nsoromma I was determined not to leg it but my legs gave way when I stood up. At least we'll have stories to tell our grandchildren.

@Myne Whitman Trust me, we tried that. Didn't quite work.

@Afrocentric I forgot we walked all the from Russell Square! We were doing some "revision" at Senate House beforehand weren't we? We should have just stuck with Pret....

Related Posts with Thumbnails