Come and help us celebrate
our ten year anniversary,
the flyer declared.
The Indian restaurant over the road
was celebrating
a decade in business.
We decided to go along,
and show our support,
hoping for a great evening.
The flyer promised
traditional music,
drums and dancing.
As the waiter showed us
to our table for two
he explained that the
dancers had phoned in sick.
No worries, I laughed,
we're here for the food anyway.
The waiter said somebody
would be over shortly
to take our drinks order.
It was then that we took in the chaos
going on all around us.
The hostile atmosphere in the
busy restaurant restaurant resembled the
scenes of picket-lines
you see on the news.
Angry customers storm
to the bar, waving their
hands in frustration
saying they've been sitting
at their table for an hour
and nobody had been
near to take their drinks order.
The waiter behind the bar
dishes out an apology
like it's the house special.
Waiters arguing and snapping
at each other, running around,
collecting glasses,
taking orders,
dishing out
poppadums, chutneys
and apologies.
The family on the next table
have been waiting ages for their food,
all hungry eyes and rumbling stomachs.
They watch the waiters as they pass,
expectantly, the same way you hope
that slowing car is your late-night taxi-cab.
Finally the waiter approaches
with a tray laden with hot food.
Who ordered the Rogan Josh?
the waiter asks, lifting a silver dish.
The group look at each other and shrug.
Nobody has. They groan and tutt.
The waiter says he'll check,
and retreats, taking the food tray with him.
The family starts to drool,
like Labradors wanting wafer-thin ham
and crank their annoyance and protests
up a notch.
A stressed-looking waiter
finally approaches our table,
pad and paper in hand.
What would you like?
he asks, pen hovering over the page.
Actually, my wife says,
I would like to go somewhere else.
-
Author:
Tom C Dylan (
Offline) - Published: March 4th, 2024 08:32
- Comment from author about the poem: Inspired by a recent visit to my local Indian restaurant.
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 22
- User favorite of this poem: Accidental Poet.
Offline)
Comments9
Your wife made a really good choice Tom. Hope you were able to find a nicer place to enjoy your evening dinner.
Thanks AP. It wasn't quite as chaotic as I made out, but it was chaos. Every table got served wrong food and drinks when they finally got served. And the waiters were just wandering around apologising to everyone. 🙂
Obviously a poorly run business. My guess is it will be sold soon and a new owner will make it a great restaurant. 👍
Oh no, how did they last 10 years?!
Haha, a very good question! A party for ten years, should have been a surprise (we lasted this long) party! 🙂
Tom, reminds me of some restaurants in the Treasure Valley of Idaho where I live.
~ Sonia
Yeah, they just took on far more bookings than they could cope with.
Luckily (because it's the only one locally) my Indian is great - does wonderful vego dishes which suits me just fine.
However, your piece here made me laugh with recognition as I did experience a very similar joint while on holiday a couple of years back at the Taj Mahal* in a town I shan't name to protect the guilty.
*Not its real name
Good write, Tom - but I don't want to hear of it again.....
The place is usually a bit better than that.. but they promoted this big night, and it was a disaster. And the way you protected the name of the Taj Mahal (not its real name) to protect the guilty, really made me laugh. 🙂
My guess is their business won’t last much longer. Entertainment of a different kind. I think leaving was the best thing you could have done Tom. You penned a good read out of chaos.
Thanks, Cassie. Yeah, it was carnage. The next day, I was like, hmmm, this could make a nice little poem. 🙂
This can happen sometimes Tom but luckily not very often, Good words.
Andy
Thanks, Andy. Yeah the place was just overwhelmed. They really shouldn't have accepted so many bookings. 🙂
Angry customers storm
to the bar, waving their
hands in frustration
saying they've been sitting
at their table for an hour
and nobody had been
near to take their drinks order
Are you sure you weren't on Italy? lol 😆
Is Italy bad for angry customers or for bad customer service? Or both? 🙂
Yeh it's meeee lol the service in Italy is very bad some times they will definitely leave you waiting for drinks for 20 minutes, I try to teach them but they don't see the point as the drink with their food. Something you just have to let go. 🌹
sounds like your wife has got her head screwed on write .. I think I would have said the same thing ..
Yeah, she definitely had the right idea. 🙂
I love Indian food, but waiting hours for it is out of the question. Superb write. I feel I was there.
I agree about Indian food. There's some great Indian restaurants near me but this one just took on too many bookings and couldn't cope. Thanks as always for the comments, Thomas.
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