Fedele's Ristorante Italiano

So I had kind of a crummy meal out last weekend, which was all the worse because we were celebrating a friend's birthday. 

I don't usually write about restaurants that I don't like (or complain about their service), but this one really takes the the (figurative) cake. I have never encountered such disdainful service, not in fast-food joints (rarely frequented for excellent service) or even Asian restaurants reputed for bad service on Urbanspoon. Especially not from restaurants that promise a fine-dining experience, and we left Fedele's with a most unpleasant taste in our mouth.  

As we walked into Fedele's, the restaurant seemed to tick all the boxes: the place was clean, well-maintained, and nicely decorated. We looked through the menu and made our orders when the rest of our party arrived. Then we sat back and we started catching up on one anothers' lives, some of whom I haven't seen for a long while. And we waited for our food. And waited. And waited some more. 

It was quite a while before I started to wish we had ordered a glass of wine or something, just so I have something to taste. About an hour after we ordered, the entree finally came out.

The presentation of the Bruschetta ($6.50) was lovely, but I couldn't really say much about the taste. If we ordered food at 1.30pm, and the entree came to our table over an hour afterwards, well, almost anything would taste good.

I ordered the pasta Pennecon Salmone Atlantic GFO ($25), but was served a grilled salmon ($36) instead. Honestly, I just didn't care at that point; all I wanted was to eat, and I'll be damned if I have to wait another hour. The food was beautifully arranged, and the freshness of the salmon came shining through.  

Duck ($38)

We had a few other dishes as well, though the only one that was raved about was the Spaghetti Pangrattato GFO ($30). My lunch companion said the spaghetti was normal, but the seafood was remarkably fresh. 

I was annoyed by the long wait, and by the mix-up for my order. But hey, accidents happen. What pissed us off was when we asked for the bill, an intensely arrogant waiter with an unpleasant attitude commented tartly that "[we] didn't order wine, didn't order dessert. What's wrong with you?" 

It was hardly his place to tell customers off, and given that 1) we were kept waiting over an hour for our food and didn't want to wait any more for desserts 2) he had gotten our orders wrong, 3) it was lunch and not dinner, 4) many of us were driving, and 5) it was simply not one bit of his goddamned business. When a friend walked up to him to pay the bill, he literally turned his nose up at her. This is a restaurant that promises a fine dining experience but delivers none of the service. At least that waiter in particular, who should never go near another customer. I was reading the spate of negative reviews on Urbanspoon about this restaurant, and I was wondering how much of the bad services reviews can be attributed to that one waiter, because everybody else was perfectly pleasant.

The owner of the restaurant had clearly gone to great lengths to ensure customer satisfaction, from the smart uniforms of the servers, its fresh seafood, even down to the starched tablecloths and spotless wine glasses. But all the effort were all foiled by the disgusting attitude of this one server.  

Just the other day, a group of friends and I started talking about how an Asian perception of good service differs from a Westerner's perspective. When I eat in a restaurant, I value quick service and good taste. And if you've been to an Asian country, you'll see that's what most restaurants there prioritise. Every thing else takes a backseat, which is how I like it as long as the food comes quick. If there's something I want, I'll stop a waiter and ask for it. We rarely need (or want!) a chatty waiter making small talk, or dropping by our table throughout the meal asking me how the food is. I'd rather spend the time talking to my friends and just enjoying the food. In contrast, there's a greater emphasis on friendly service in Melbourne. Many Asian restaurants here suffer from poor online reviews criticising their "bad service." Whereas to us, the service is good where it counts: plating and serving delicious food to the table quickly. So when I read about reviews on Urbanspoon conplaining of bad service, I take them with a pinch of salt. But for Fedele's, which fails to deliver good service by any measure, could do with a good hard look at its staff.