Word of Mouth is the best Advertisement

[Proud Pies]

So, here's my advertisement of where NOT to eat!


The story you are about to read (if you can be bothered) is true, happened to me today (10/10/07).

New Restaurant in Australia on Collins

Il Divo opened up last week in Australia on Collins. I work 2 doors up and had seen the advertisement for $10 Meals Opening Special. So I thought, wow, that sounds alright. They had the menu there, and the food looked fantastic.

They also had signs on both sides of the entrance for staff wanted, for all parts of the restaurant.

Now, last week was the final week of School Holidays.......lots of people in the city.

This week it's Seniors Week, with lots of Seniors in the City coming in on free public transport.

So, i've been wanting to visit since it opened. It really looked interesting. So today I convinced one of my colleagues to join me there for lunch.

We went in and were seated by the Waiter/Manager/everything else. (They had a total of 2 floor staff, one did the soft drinks and took payments, the other, who apparently is the manager, did everything else.

We got there at about 12.15. My friend ordered Garlic Prawns. I ordered the stuffed chicken breast. We asked about house wine and he said, 'We don't have any wine yet'. I said, 'Oh, you don't have a licence yet?', to which he replied, 'No, we have the licence, we just don't have any alcohol yet'. (Interesting) So, we said we'd just have some water.

So, off he trots with our order and voila! Less than 2 minutes later, he's back with my friend's garlic prawns and my stuffed chicken breast. I actually said to him at the time 'Wow, that was quick!'

As a diabetic, I'm taught that I must wait until the meal is in front of me before I inject, just in case there is a problem. I can probably wait about 10 minutes. So, with my meal in front of me, I injected my insulin.

The chicken breast looked interesting. The soggy stone cold chips around the plate didn't look too appetising and then when i cut into the breast, it was mainly uncooked, luke warm and just looked plain dodgy. My friend's Garlic prawns seemed fine.

Next arrived our water.......in bottles that we were expected to pay for! This wasn't mentioned and there was no drinks menu at all.

So, i tried to see if i could find any part of my meal to eat. I found one part on the thicker side of the breast that actually appeared to be cooked, and took a bite. My friend called over the 'drinks waiter' and told him about my meal. I also elaborated on it. He said........'I'll get the Manager for you'

So we waited for the 'Manager', who was busy seating people, taking their orders, bringing out their meals........

Eventually he came over and asked what the problem was. I explained the soggy cold chips, the uncooked chicken etc.....and then i went on to explain that i'm a diabetic and i have injected insulin and i need to eat. His response......'WELL, I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU!'. No apology, nothing. I said........'I can't eat that' and he said, 'Well, what do you want?' So, i suggested some lasagna and asked if that would be put through the microwave and he said 'No, it's a family recipe'. And walked off.

We sat, I told my friend to eat her meal. We waited. 5 minutes

10 minutes

by this time, i'm starting to get a bit funny, not having any food and excess insulin running around.....

15 minutes.....my friend is getting worried.

I look over to the servery continually, thinking that the meal will get there soon......and then i see the cook, putting up all the meals onto the servery wearing KITCHEN RUBBER GLOVES. You know the ones you use to wash up with! They are not FOOD PREPARATION GLOVES. He is preparing food and putting the meals on the servery with those gloves on.........ewwwwwww

20 minutes and my friend calls the 'drinks waiter' over again. She explains that i'm still waiting and i try to explain that i need to eat due to insulin and cannot wait anymore....his response 'Well, i'll take it off the bill'. My response 'Take it off the Bill? What Bill? You think we're gonna pay for this?' and with that we walked out. Well, i did and dragged my friend, so she got a free meal and we both got the 1/2 bottle of water we drank for free.

I then had to go and buy something very quick to eat.

Too many things just didn't seem right. They have obviously opened before they are ready so that they can make money, but you do not serve a thick chicken breast fillet up 2 minutes after it's been ordered when it's obviously been cooked hours ago and been sitting there.

So, I have reported them to the Food Inspection thing at the Melbourne City Council.

I certainly wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

Sounded like a very pleasant experience, NOT!

Just a question on diabetics, what happens if you go too long without food after taking the insulin?

[Proud Pies]

[Pa Marmo]

Exhaustion of these sources can, either temporarily or on a sustained basis, if reducing blood glucose to a sufficiently low level, first and most dramatically manifest itself in impaired functioning of the central nervous system – dizziness, speech problems, even loss of consciousness, are not unknown. This is known as hypoglycemia or, in cases producing unconsciousness, "hypoglycemic coma" (formerly termed "insulin shock" from the most common causative agent).

[stui magpie]

[Proud Pies]

hypO is when you have LOW blood sugar, have certainly had my share of these.

Hyper is the opposite.

[EBB]

[member34258]

I was walking through Aus on Collins last night and the wife liked the look of the parquetry at IlDivo and asked if we should eat there.
I remembered this review and just kept walking!

Word of mouth works good.

[Proud Pies]

lol member glad i've been of some assistance.

[fan4collingwood]

What a terrible experiene for you Jacqui, that was absolutely shameful for them to open and not be ready for customers. Good onya for telling us all about them.

[John Wren]

i had that happen a few years ago. but at least it was not as bad as calling into an a&e complaining of pain in the kidney region only to be put on a bed in the hall way and lying there for six hours without anyone attending to me. they kept telling me that someone would be with me soon. bit like how airlines tell you a plane has been delayed and a boarding call will be made in 15 minutes. they do that often enough to kill the actual time the delay is for.

[member34258]

[eddiesmith]

Yeah maybe the State govts should do something about our hospitals as they are their responsibility, oh wait, they are all labor, better to blame the Feds for not helping them than doing anything about it

When Mum had her stroke it took them a week to diagnose it

[stui magpie]

JFK stuffed the hospitals and schools and Bracks gave them the last rites thru total apathy and letting the socialist grading system into the schools.

[member34258]