Cyprus Gourmet weekly comment

Wines o fthe week – Restaurant review

The test of a well-run restaurant is quite simple. Go when there are very few customers and see how the staff do their job and how you are made welcome. Stay, if you can, until the place is full up and assess the staff performance again. If they come through both tests, then they are professional. Similarly, food quality and well-timed delivery should be good during slack periods and when the place is busy.
Last year my wife and I went to an award-winning restaurant just after the scheduled evening opening time, when there was only one other table occupied. The staff treated us with disinterest, the food was poorly cooked and the service slow and slovenly. Only the wine server was professional and friendly. Here I should say that the restaurant is accustomed to filling up at 9.00 pm with young Cypriot trendies (which my wife and I are not). I wrote a factual review, omitting much about the poor service. The owners complained to the proprietor of the publication and to me. I should have told the staff who I was, they said; and, oh dear Mr Patrick, what problems they had getting workers. No apology. I could give a number of other examples.
A good restaurant treats every diner as a valued customer, whatever they spend and at whatever time they come. My restaurant review this week is of one such.

Patrick Skinner