Table for two?

I love romantic dinners, who doesn't ? But some restaurants try so hard to spoil a special time!

This weekend was my birthday weekend and for the first time ever I had no idea what I wanted to do, oh that old age... So I pretty much did the only thing I would have ended up doing anyway on a Friday and allowed my boyfriend to plan whatever he wanted for the Saturday... [Yeah I really wasn't into the celebratory planning this year]. So of course he said we'd go to dinner. I was okay with that, with both our schedules we haven't had dinner together, much less dinner together ALONE for quite some time.

I got my hair did, slapped on a bit of tinted moisturizer and put on my cute lil' outfit I got made for my birthday and got ready to go out with him. He was so sweet too, he put on a matching shirt and we were on our way. I like Chinese food, we both like Chinese food, so that was the obvious choice. I would've had Indian but I had some tummy issues, which Indian curry would've probably upset and nobody wants that shit on their birthday (see what I did there... lol}.

The first restaurant we went to Taurus Garden in Sovereign North, was kinda cool. He had tried it out with his mother and they both recommended it. The maitre d' (I can't get the little thing over the "i"...don't sue me) came over to us and asked politely "table for two", we nodded and were escorted to a table in the corner. The waiter poured water into our glasses and we argued over what to have for quite some time, until we made up our minds, started watching the television, checked Instagram... all this and the waiter hasn't come back to us yet. We saw them all walk past our table. Clearly we looked like we couldn't afford the meal? was it my skirt? My neon hoops? 

I started to wonder why they didn't come over to us. My boyfriend asked me if I noticed that no one had come back to us and asked whether we should leave. Listen, we were both DYING OF HUNGER, {I usually have a biscuit in my purse, but somehow I forgot to put one in on Saturday}and quite frankly if we're paying our money for a service, we should be getting the damn service. So as we were walking out the same waiter who walked past us a GAZILLION times asked "oh, you change your mind bossy"? 

SIR!!! Clearly we were invisible in the corner, or maybe we looked like we were begging a meal? You walked by us so many times and now, NOW when we're getting up to leave you are going to ask us if we've changed out mind. My boyfriend was visibly upset, he tried hard to keep back the unfavourable words and just said "You guys really messed up" as we stormed out. 

Now, after that disappointment, we went to the 'evil we know', China Express in Marketplace. It's our 'go to' restaurant for all things; we have lunch there, dinner... It's a constant in our relationship really. Anywhoo, we went in through those glass doors and the place was pretty full. The maitre d' wasn't even at the front of the restaurant. So I took a seat, as a waiter pushed past us "excuse me... excuse me!", to open the door for someone else, walking by us like we didn't exist. I let it slide, why be mad on my birthday weekend although I'm already dying of hunger right? Eventually someone came over to us, "table for two", we nodded and were seated at a table that was marked reserved. 

Why would you seat us at a table that was already reserved? Were we going to have to rush our meal? Anyway, we could hardly have an intimate moment because the restaurant was no NOISY! Oh my gosh, they really need to re-think the layout or something because that noise is unbearable. We sat looking at menus once again and looked as busy waiters buzzed right by us.  We sat there a few moments longer, we were both just tired of the crap. So we walked out YET AGAIN! Nobody said a thing to us this time, we just went out with ease. I was so fed up at this point I told him I just want some soup from Island Grill, buy a pizza at PriceSmart and call it a night.

He wasn't having it so we went to Northside Plaza. By this time it was after 9 o'clock, we spent almost 2 hours driving around and waiting inside Chinese restaurants. All the other 'fine dining' restaurants inside the Plaza were closed, except  Northside Kitchen. There was a man on the outside urging us to go in. So, with no other option...we did. As we entered ... "Good evening...dining?", we nodded and then we were asked "table for two"  and were seated in a really cozy section of the restaurant.  Maybe it was my advanced state of hunger but the restaurant is really a gem, the decor is on point and the wait staff is polite.

We ordered and everything came out swiftly. We chatted and enjoyed our soup then some delicious chicken (chicken  with broccoli, and mallah chicken). It was an awesome experience.

But, this really showed me that Jamaica's customer service GAWN DUNG INNA HOLE! Where is the 'customer is always right' , 'customer comes first'? I felt like a beggar. In these harsh economic times I'm coming to your restaurant to spend my (rather his) hard-earned money and you're going to just ignore me?

I went back to Taurus Garden with my parents on the Sunday and we got the swiftest service. so now I'm baffled... did my boyfriend and I just look like we couldn't afford shit and my parents clearly look better off? Whatever the reason, there's no excuse for poor customer service. I'm really sick of the lack of appreciation for patronage I've observed within recent times. 

Don't stand for shitty customer service!