Worst dining experience in a decade!
My family and I have been to the Metro cafe on a few occasions, mainly for dinner but I tried lunch once. In the past we enjoyed the food and atmosphere, in particular the small plates (e.g. lobster ravioli, lobster and shrimp plantain cakes). Last night, my youngest boy suggested that we go back for dinner since he was very fond of the Duck confit. This dinner turned out to be the worst dining experience of my last 10 years.

Most of the blame can be assigned to the service. First, the waiter forgot to mention the daily specials and, when later asked to describe those items, he could barely give the name of those in English. Then, he brought the bread only after being asked and it arrived late, while we were eating the main course. Half of the table ordered an appetizer and the other half had a salad included with the main dish. However, the waiter brought salads and appetizers at different times which led half the table watching the others eat and vice versa. The oddest moment was when the waiter brought lobster ravioli instead of lobster and shrimp plantain cakes. He apparently misunderstood the order and caught only the term "lobster". Since he brought the main dish right after the appetizers, I ended up eating my appetizer after the main course. To top the list, he overcharged one item (charged for lobster ravioli that are more expensive than the plantain cakes). To check the cost of these two items, I picked up a menu at the front desk and then was told it was an old menu since the prices were much lower than the ones I saw before when ordering. All this was very confusing..

In addition to the abysmal service, some of the food was not very good. Either the chef had a bad day or they changed chefs since last Spring. The salads looked miserable, the fries were overcooked and my Lobster and shrimp plantain cakes turned out to be a complete mess in terms of presentation (instead of cakes, I received a mixture of shrimp and lobster meat, and the plantain was nowhere to be found) and it was burned. Evidently they rushed to prepare this appetizer following the ordering mistake. All the family has a sweet tooth and usually we are looking forward to try desserts. This time, our waiter brought a small tray with 3 pitiful choices: a lava cake, a cheese cake and a Grand marnier cake. We didn't take the time to ask where the great desserts they served in the past had gone missing... We asked for the check and rushed for the door... It is certainly the last time we go to this restaurant and I would be surprised if it survives until next Spring.    [04 Aug 2007 11:48:25]

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