Raw deal at Artcaffe’ Coffee and Bakery
The delicious sweet and sour chicken with mashed potatoes and vegetables at Artcaffe`. Photo | Pool
What you need to know:
- The service was slow, and the fruit salad was a rip-off at Artcaffé, Rubis Petrol Station, Hurlingham
Hey, are you at work? said the voice on the other side of the call. Yes, I am, I replied. Would you want to grab some quick lunch? My answer was definitely a very quick Yes! I can never say no to food. And that’s how I was tasked to find a quick eatery at Hurlingham for the lunch date. I settled with the new Artcaffé branch at Rubis Petrol Station near the Hurlingham round about.
Getting parking space was troublesome but the security guard was very helpful and organised one for us. The restaurant is well-lit with their bakery just right at the entrance which welcomes you with the aroma of freshly baked pastries and coffee. We proceeded to sit upstairs for better views and fresh air.
I ordered for some juice and the sweet and sour chicken with mashed potatoes and vegetables on the side while my friend ordered for a basic fruit salad. Within minutes, the pineapple-orange-mint juice I had ordered was brought with cutleries for the main meal. The juice was very delicious and I almost ordered a second one.
But, 30 minutes later, our main meal had not been served! Not even the fruit salad. We called the supervisor to follow up on the progress and she informed us that ‘our meal was next in order from the kitchen but they can’t serve a man before a lady” and so our meals would be brought at the same time. We didn’t know how to take her answer but we decided to wait.
A few minutes later the meals were brought. My meal looked really good and colorful and tasted equally the same. The chicken was sweet and tender with very well done mashed potatoes and fresh crisp-tender vegetables.
The "rescue" fruit salad that was served. Photo | Pool
The fruit salad on the other hand was an epic fail starting from the presentation. For the time they took to prepare it, we were thinking it would even have berries, apricots or dragon fruits. It only had several pieces of sweet melon and unripe watermelon, 4 banana slices, 2 pieces of an apple and 2 mango slices sprinkled with passion fruit pulp. When we raised a complaint with the waitress, she stated that the fruit salad is only made with the fruits in season and that’s what they had in the kitchen. After a while she brought more bananas and a few apple pieces. For Sh390, we really felt cheated. We got a raw deal. Literally!
The original fruit salad that had been served. Photo | Pool
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