I’ve written before about how I hate waiting in any restaurant or fast food joint at the best of times. So, another establishment has been added to my mental list of places I will never go in again.
A few weeks ago I had a late lesson and I was hungry, so I decided to nip into a chip shop and get some chips. The place I chose was The Tandoori Star in Sneinton because of its “fish and chips” sign outside.
As I walked in I realised it wasn’t a traditional chippie and fully expected to get those frozen fries that a lot of these newer cheap-and-cheerful curry and pizza places often do. I also wasn’t surprised by the apparent indifference with which the one person serving (out of about six in the shop) dealt with me and charged me £1 in advance – only to tell me the chips would be “about 4-5 minutes”.
If I’d have known that before, I would have changed my mind there and then. I was in a hurry… but 4-5 minutes would still give me more than 15 minutes to drive a quarter of a mile to my next pupil, so I said “OK”.
It took “4-5 minutes” for the guy serving to even go and fetch a bag of chips from the freezer, and at least another two for him to put four handfuls into the fryer. Then it took a good six minutes to cook them, a further four for him to scoop them out and put them in the warming compartment. It was like watching paint dry.
During all this time he was assembling kebabs for the small handful of people who came in. But the last straw came when the little kid who’d been shouting and talking with all the staff turned out to be a customer and the serving guy said to him “do you want vinegar on these?”
I’d been standing there for nearly 20 minutes at this point. I just turned round and walked out.
So, my advice to anyone in the area is do not use the Tandoori Star in Sneinton. Life’s too short to even consider putting up with such crap service..