Eddie Does Easter

This is kind of a lazy post. It's just the letter I wrote to the restaurant where I had an awful Easter brunch. Yeah, I know. I haven't posted anything in months and the first thing I do is an email. But I just thought I'd introduce you to my life as a perpetual "Mary Tyler Moore Show" dinner party - you know, always hopeful they'll be fun but something always goes wrong. And every word of this is true. You may think, "Wow, this queen really does get bitchy about his eggs." But it was EASTER and I wanted a nice meal with friends. So, read on.


To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to express my disappointment with Havana Central and their staff at the Morningside Heights restaurant on April 4, 2010. Now I have been to this restaurant many, many times in the past before it even became Havana Central and have never had any reason to complain. But the staff just wasn't firing on all cylinders this day.

I had come to brunch with two of my friends. I had ordered the "Huevos Fritos Cubanos." I have had them several times before. Our server took my order, then my friends. When I was served, I was given the same dish as my friend had ordered. (Later, the receipt would show that this is how it was entered into the computer- that despite us ordering two different dishes, it had been input in error.) It took a long time to get our server's attention, I asked for the menu so I could show him what I ordered as he seemed to have no idea what I was asking for. I kept saying, it's the two eggs over rice. So after being told that "because we're so busy, it'll take a while to make you that" and waiting, I was presented with a different dish a second time that was wrong. This was swimming in beans and I know that there is a small portion of beans on what I had ordered but this was eggs and beans, again, not what I had ordered - indeed, the Cuban pressed bread wasn't even there so I know they didn't get it right. I sent it back again (and the busboy gave me the most annoyed look as he did so.)

Our server came back and said, "We're out of that dish." How can you be out of a dish that consists of two eggs, rice, some onions and a spoonful of beans? Was anybody in the kitchen even familiar with the menu? Our server said that the menu has changed recently, but first of all, why would that be my fault? Secondly, this is a dish I've ordered a few times before so it's been around. Was somebody in the kitchen just annoyed with me that they were being stubborn? Well, I'm sorry, it's a recession, I do not go out to eat as much as I once did and I do want to get what I have ordered.

So I ordered a burger as it was getting late. I asked for it "medium rare." The server said, "Medium well." I had to correct him. But it didn't matter. The burger I got was medium well. I felt badly for my friends who had to wait for me to eat while they were done, but there was consolation in the fact that the appetizer we had ordered (and had asked about three different times) never came out until they had finished their meals.

All in all, I am very disappointed by my experience at your restaurant. As I said, I've been a patron since 2001 so I know that it's not the standard procedure. It's said that if you have a good experience, you tell two people but if you have a bad one, you tell ten. I am not going to tell ten people but this experience has made me less likely to frequent your establishment in the future.