Today, I had lunch at Origins French Thai with my best friend for the purpose of having lunch and exchanging Christmas gifts. This has been our annual practice for several years. In the past, Origin had always been the "go to restaurant" for me.
The last time, I had dinner at Origins, we noticed that the waiters were not that attentive; however, I overlooked it. Perhaps they were too busy. I've always, in the past had been an Origin French Thai fan. Today, I was most disappointed for the following reasons. Since it's a BYO establishment, we brought champagne and we asked the waitress for an ice bucket because she attempted to open the bottle and I stopped her because the bottle was not that cold. She brought back a wine cooler with ice and placed it on the table. The waitress then took our order. Upon her return, we asked her if she would be so kind and pop the cork on the bottle. Personally, I did not think that we should have to ask. We found that the soup was excellent and the curry puffs were okay. in all fairness, I must mention that I enjoyed the cucumber, vinegar and oil that accompanied the curry puffs which really enhanced the dish. We then both ordered the crab salad. The crab salad was most disappointing. This is the first time that I had ordered a crab salad and the crab was canned. We were most disatisfied. We ate it and complained the entire time. In retrospect, we should have sent it back; however, we both agreed that to send a meal back in a restaurant is not always a good idea, although I mentioned to the waitress that I was surprised that they served a crab salad that came from the can. This is not the quality that I had known about Origin or expected.
Once we had completed our meal the waitress came to our table with the bill and walked away. After talking for a few minutes, I realized that we were given the bill and we were not asked if we wanted dessert or coffee. I found that odd, so I called over the waitress and pointed out that we were given our bill and we wanted to order coffee and dessert. We were told that since it was 3:00 pm and the kitchen was closed, they could not provide us with any coffee and dessert. My position is that we should have been told by the waitress, before we completed our meal and if we wanted dessert we should order because the kitchen closed a 3:00 PM. We had arrived at approxiamately 1: 40 PM. I spoke to the manager about my concerns before leaving the restaurant. She asked if the waiter told me that the kitchen closed at 3:00 PM and if she asked if we wanted dessert. To both questions we answered, no. Her response was that she would speak to them about that; however, we were not offered the opportunity to have dessert. When we left, there were a group of patrons still in the restaurant and another couple in the other room having coffee. It still bothered me that the manager allowed this and then we had to leave without coffee or dessert. I'm wondering, is there new management or a change in staff? We were most disappointed and surprised!
We did leave and we went to a lovely restaurant on Main Street. We were well received and we had fresh brewed coffee and a delicious flourless chocolate cake. The waiters were friendly and most attentive at Kyma Greek Restaurant which was the direct opposite of our experience at Origin French Thai. For all of the above reasons, sadly, I will not go to Origin again.
Joyce E-H read more