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| - You know what's a worrying sign to me about a resto these days in Calgary? It isn't so much the odd bad review, since everyone has an off day. It isn't that something on the menu might be sold outt or even if the place is perpetually 1/2 empty. It's how often they use discount coupon promotions.
Rajdoot had been the first indian restaurant that I visited in Calgary 9 years ago, and it was actually pretty decent. I tend to go there probably twice a year, and in each and every visit, I see little changes in the food, the decor, things like that. And for awhile, I did notice the food quality drop a bit, then take a sudden rebound in recent years (my guess a new cook), and then meh.
Now since January or so, I've seen Radjoot follow Wicked Chili in a similar pattern, that is, they always seem to be in one deal or another, virtually every other week. Either it's $15 for $30, or $25 for $50 or whatever, but in the end, it started to appear like desperation to me. You see, the way these coupons work is that the resto offers the discount, but 1/2 of that money goes to the resto and 1/2 goes to the deal provider. Soooo... if you bought a $30 for $60 use, the resto actually gets $15 back, or a 75% cut on their sale. Now used sparingly, it can be quite a spectacular promo. For example, the Brasserie Kensington, one of the best restos in Calgary, has used it only ONCE in their year of existence. Teatro, also one of the best, has only done it once throughout the 2 years that such deals has become popular. But if you use it like the now shuttered Wicked Chili did, that is, literally have a deal every week on the week for over a year (so they were effectively selling their food at cost and losing money on every sale), well.... you're going to die a horrible death of 1000 cuts.
However, I have enjoyed the food in the past. While not the very best of indian for Calgary (I reserve that for Namskar and Mango Shiva), it was still a great place for a nice easy dinner of some butter chicken, lamb vindaloo and awesome veggie samosas.
Last night however, could probably be described in twitter as #epicfailure. I had walked in with a $30 for $60 groupon for a set multi-course meal dinner for 2. It was a nice set vegetarian or meat menu. Instead, when I showed my groupon, the waitress suddenly went from a happy grin to a look reserved for those who just killed Bambi's mom. She then started to steer us from the set menu for 2 as in the deal, to the cheaper buffet. Being a little taken aback, I simply thought... ok, this is the woman who will serve you and she's copping a bad attitude, I better just do the buffet and besides, most of the foods on the special table set menu was there anyways, though not freshly made of course, but I thought, what the hell... I paid for it already.
The buffet was well... acceptable. It was running low on some items, and since I walked it around 8pm, it didn't look like it was being replenished anytime soon since the resto was 3/4 empty except for a small birthday party that had already seemed to have eaten. The samosas was still quite good, but the nan was definately at least 1 hour or so old in the heat steamer, the tandoori chicken was getting to be quite dry, the curries were ok though nothing too particularly epic to report. Overall, a passable meal, but if my goal was that, I really would have just ordered take out. In the meantime, we were in a hidden corner to ensure that either no one could see us or that they didn't have to deal with us (service was barely passable at best. )
Finally the bill, and they then hit us for the full amount of a buffet at $35 or so with a single mango juice extra ordered. I then reminded them of the $60 dollar groupon I gave in... and they returned with the bill at $4 for the mango juice. Let's see... $60 - $35 = $25 left... not me owing them $4. But by this time, I really just didn't want to be there any longer, and paid the $4, a 10% tip (not a 15 or 20% for decent service... but if I really wanted to voice my displeasure, I should have left a penny.) and then walked out.
So....
Pluses: free parking, still awesome veggie samosas. Ok buffet not great.
Negatives:service and the attitude of the lady. the overall all atmosphere (sorry, but ICirque du Soleil music really doesn't add to the atmosphere)
End Result? I made a mistake in not following my gut reaction when I started noticing the endless deal groupons and so on and deep sixed the resto. I'm gone.
Here's a note from my lovely dining partner: she noticed that the bartender, an eldery gent, didn't deviate from the tv once during the night, and the heck with the patrons. Great job people... really.
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