Could it be because it was a "coupon dinner"? Does that immediately discount it as not something special? And why do these places sell coupons? Do they not have enough business and why not? So then you start thinking "what's wrong with this place?"
It was on the main floor of the Hyatt - Mix Bistro Bar, what an odd name anyway. When we arrived there was a large crowd swirling about in the lobby, and the noise carried through into the restaurant, which is quite small, 10 tables at most. It actually has a nice ceiling to floor bay window looking out onto the King West scene, which is quite a hub these days, being right next to the TIFF Light box. We were given a window seat and it was great fun "watching the girls go by" from above. The noise and the bright room likely detracted from the ambiance. The fact that we had to have an early dinner because of a concert afterwards already made the dinner not a destination but a "stomach filler" and I think that also detracted from the "specialness" of the event. And afterall, it's just a hotel bar, not a special restaurant where you have the expectation of good food just based on reputation.
Service was ambivalent and I suspect more from poor training than from attitude. The waiter came back frequently and asked how the meal was. But he didn't ask us what kind of red we prefer nor offered us pepper for our seafood salad or fish entree - many points deducted for that! And yet, when we asked him to put an unfinished portion of pasta in a box, he came back a few minutes later with a piping hot box. When I looked, he had added more seafood and melted cheese to the leftover - the takeout was hotter than the actual dinner served! Now that was thoughtful and deserved a good tip.
So there was really a lot at play when you think about it. You would go to a special restaurant because you want to taste food prepared by a certain chef, you're already in the mindset to expect something special - therefore it is special. Of course, high expectations can sometimes work in reverse. In this case though, low expectations didn't help either.
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| King West street scene - Two different kinds of mounted police even! |
and right next to TIFF
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| Delicious calamari salad with heirloom tomatoes |
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| Perfectly done arctic char on quinoa and sweet baby beets |
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| Seafood pasta in an excellent spicy tomato sauce |
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| Berries on a sorbet that actually tastes like mango |
I strongly suspect that for some restaurants, a coupon/special deal meal is considered second-class customer. I don't know what percentage then become repeat customers, as oppose to those who only do it because of the discount; or if that percentage then causes skewing towards quality and service.
ReplyDeleteFor our friends not in Toronto, TIFF is the head office of the Toronto International Film Festival.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, we were not the only ones in there with a coupon. Both tables beside us were using coupons. That makes three out of four tables. In fact when we called to make a reservation, they already asked us if we were going to use a travelzoo coupon. It must have been unusual for them to get a reservation!
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