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| - Took the family to Gen this afternoon for lunch. The atmosphere of the restaurant is pleasant modern and the sound level was acceptable. The problem was the service. This is a 'concept' restaurant in which you basically cook your own food table side on a grill. The idea is similar to the Melting Pot where you cook your own food in a variety of fondue sauces.
I won't even talk about the first waiter who was a complete mess. He was so bad, I called the manager over and she reassigned the "lead" waitress to our table. From there on, the service was quick but it entirely missed the point of the restaurant. By way of example, they place a three chambered sauce/spice tray in front of each diner. That said, nobody bothered to explain what the spices were or how they should be used on the proteins and veggies.
We ordered several proteins and a few veggies and they all came promptly. But here again, nobody gave us a clue about how they should be cooked. As another example, we ordered the strip steak (number 1 on the lunch menu). It appeared to be a nice cut of marbled steak. So, as one would expect, I put in on the grill not realizing that (since no knives were provided) that I should have cut it into bite sized pieces with the provided cooking shears (not a great way to cut a steak, btw). Similarly, while I know how long to cook squid, I don't know anything about octopus. We ended up with several pieces of tire rubber.
Ultimately, this restaurant relies entirely on the waiters to make the experience. If they aren't engaging and helpful, it doesn't matter how fresh the ingredients are (and, to be honest, all of the ingredients did indeed appear quite fresh). The fast service is appreciated and if I told the waiter I knew what I was doing, then that might have been enough.
Bottom line, I wouldn't return.
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