bombay bomb

Mick and I went to one of our (former?) favorite Portland restaurants tonight, the Bombay Cricket Club on Hawthorne Blvd. We have loved this restaurant for many years, maybe 10. Generally, we go there on special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries, and randomly when we feel like it. It's a little bit hard to go there on the spur of the moment, because you usually have to have advance reservations. Tonight I called at 4:30 and got a reservation for 5:00, which is not too unusual given that not many people eat at 5:00 PM on a workday.

However, it was unusual that there was no one else in the restaurant when we were seated. That should have been clue number 1. Our server came over and we ordered our usuals: papadums, garlic naan, meat samosas for Mick, okra for me, and vindaloo curry for Mick. Oh, and Mick got a mango lassi to go with dinner. Like I said, these are things we usually order, so we know what to expect.

The papdums and naan were good. However, the meat samosas were obviously from last night, but Mick ate them anyway; he must have been hungry. When dinner came, I noticed that my okra looked more limp than it usually does. It wasn't hot enough to have been over-cooked, so it must have been from last night, too. Well, I was really hungry, and I figured if it tastes good, who cares? I dug into the rice and there were big clumps of hard, gummed-together rice. Usually, the rice is beautiful and aromatic, with bay leaves and cardamom in it. I didn't see any spices, but it was yellow for whatever reason. Mick said his food was not very hot in temperature, but was much more spicy than usual. He likes hot (temperature) food, especially since he's a meat-eater and high temperature is equivalent to safer food. A manager type person approached our table and asked if everything was okay. Mick showed her how the rice was all clumped up. She said something about how the rice doesn't always come through right. We sort of said, "oh." And then she walked away. After she left, I said to Mick, "the proper response would have been: Let me get you a fresh helping of rice." He agreed. We couldn't believe how she had brushed us off like that. I mean, it's just rice; it hardly costs anything.

Our server came over and asked if everything was all right. Mick showed her the rice, and the server immediately offered to switch out the rice. She quickly returned with fresh rice that was not clumpy. Mick mentioned to the server that his food was not as hot in temperature as he liked it, and that she might want to tell the chef, so that other orders get heated properly. She said that of course she would tell him. We continued to eat until Mick said that his food was just too cold and too spicy to finish it. The manager-type person came over again, and asked how everything was. Mick told her the situation with his food. The manager person offered to reheat his dish. I am not sure if the restaurant has changed owners or what, but when I go to a place like that, I expect a response like: would you like the chef to cook a new order? or would you like to order something different off the menu? Instead we were offered the use of their microwave! Finally, after arguing with her about when we should have told her that the food was cold and spicy, because apparently after 5-10 minutes has passed the complaint is no longer valid, Mick explained that he didn't want his dinner reheated, that he didn't enjoy it, and he didn't want to pay for it. She said she'd go see what she could do. Ten minutes later she came back all smiling and apologetic and nice and said don't worry about paying for the vindaloo. She blamed the coldness of the food on the server (whatever!) and made it sound like the whole situation was the server's fault.

The poor server looked a little shaken the next time she came to our table. I felt bad for her. I felt that she did a good job; she is just suffering from having a stupid, clueless manager. Chef Ramsey sure could teach that manager woman a thing or two about running a restaurant: food needs to be hot and not clumpy.

Sadly, it will probably be a while before we go back. I figure I'll test whether it's safe to go back or not by how easy it is to get a reservation. Also sadly, this was the first night I have thrown away my leftovers. I usually have them for the next day's lunch. There were two reasons for me throwing it away: 1) it wasn't really hot enough and it looked like it was from last night, and 2) I don't trust that manager woman; she probably put a curse on it.