After the shocking experience of having been quite simply and literally left out in the cold, we were determined more than ever before to finally treat ourselves to a no less than splendid meal. So we impulsively decided to go the whole hog and to bestow upon ourselves a lovely dinner in a grand looking seafood restaurant which we passed by earlier on, just next to our hotel. So we headed there with a vengeance, our taste buds and tummies tingling in anticipation and above all with the distinct intention of using this self-indulging exercise as palliative therapy for our recent nightmare.

This is one of those fancy looking joints with large gilded menu stands outside and live crabs and lobsters happily hobbling around in the front vitrine, beckoning you inside with their jerky claws, totally oblivious of their forthcoming fate in the days to come.

We started off with a glass of champagne, followed by a good bottle of Pouilly Fuissé and ordered the works, culminating in a grand platter of mixed shellfish for two, priced at €90. We sat there waiting for that soothing feeling of relief that we all so much crave when spoiling ourselves rotten after a traumatic experience. However to our great dismay, this feeling never came.

Much to our distress, our grand crustacean-waving seafood restaurant turned out to be a bit of a sham. I would very confidently say that the entire experience left a lot to be desired. The service was mediocre, the overall feel was far from one of opulence and class, there was very audible and frequent shouting coming from the kitchen and worst thing of all the food was several grades lower than anticipated.

We are very keen on all seafood including oysters. However I believe that if there is one type of food which must be perfectly fresh and of impeccable quality, failing which it quickly degenerates from excellent to disgusting – it must be seafood. This was perhaps one of those rare occasions were the quality was somewhere in the middle. It was ‘ok’ and most of the many items tasted pretty good. There were others however which lacked the telltale signs of freshness and naturally invigorating sea odours and flavours. Not quite bad or foul tasting and not quite off-putting enough to send back. Famous last words…

The truth of the matter was that seemingly the only grand factor of this establishment was their pricing, and grandiose it truly was. This was amply and unambiguously confirmed later on that night and more so the day after, by the countless frantic dashes to the bathroom and the subsequent requirement of ingesting several Rennie’s and a couple of Gavescon’s for good measure, to try and get some sleep. But we’ll come to that a little bit later…

Meanwhile and still unaware of the full consequences of our meal at the seafood restaurant, we were even more upset at the final outcome of the evening, having ended up paying a little fortune for a big disappointment. Our surreal experiences that evening infuriated me to the extent of taking some form of action. Sitting in our hotel room that night reminiscing about the evening’s major mishaps and before the main digestive onslaught which might have directed my rage elsewhere, I decided to research the first rude restaurant. Feeling totally mistreated, I posted an account of the horrific manner we were treated both on the restaurant’s Facebook page as well as on Tripadvisor. This is not at all something I would normally do, or for that matter something I have ever actually done, but on this occasion I really couldn’t retain so much disappointment bottled up inside me.

Much to my surprise within minutes the restaurant posted back on their FB page making a full blown apology for this unfortunate incident. They also took the initiative of mentioning that they would be happy to offer us some sort of commercial gesture to make up for our negative experience that evening.

I posted back making it clear that I was not after any freebies but simply after a good meal. They claimed that the waitress hadn’t seen us and that the door was unlocked but often gets stuck. All rather lame excuses I must add, however their overall tone was very much one of apology and reconciliation. So my final word was that their apology was accepted and that we will make another attempt at dining at their establishment the day after.

Meanwhile while all of this was happening, the effects of our seafood meal were starting to unfold in a very nasty and obvious manner. It suffices to say that tablet in hand many of my posts were not made in the bedroom per se but in the adjoining little room… Oh my, imagine arguing about the rude treatment at one restaurant while you are suffering the physical consequences of eating in another. What had we done to deserve this? Did we really need to travel so far and pay so much money to contract food poisoning when I can easily think of so many places so much closer to home smile emoticon