Naïa

In Spain you can have a three course meal for lunch for a tenner. "El menú del día." This is a great way to find out the kitchen of a new restaurant and I guess it’s a good way for a restaurant to try out new meals or get rid of food that otherwise will go to waste.

This is how I came accross Naïa, http://www.naiarestaurante.com/, this summer and was pleasantly surprised. The waiting staff were friendly the food was nice and I decided that I would definitely return. The next time I went I took my girlfriend for dinner and we got an amuse that was just perfect, so this place had to be good. That day it was and when I returned another time with a friend to show him the beauty of the "menú del día" again it was great. So, I had found my place. And then something happened. I think I wasn't the only person who liked the place and that now there were too many "cool" people going there too. Something had to change. A good thing was that they got rid of those uncomfortable quasi modern chairs and replaced them with straight forward chairs. But with cool people it is uncool to be friendly I guess, or even interested in your job. When I went last Sunday the food was mediocre to bad, my girlfriend's cod was too salty and my buey came on a hot plate that was decidedly not hot. We sent back the cod and were offered something else. This can happen, but by the time I had finished my meat my girlfriend was still waiting for her hamburger while the waitresses were chatting behind the bar. We were lucky enough to have the worst waitress in the world, who was not only rude and not interested, she wouldn't even look at us when she put a plate on the table. We were probably not cool enough. Sending back food is easy, but how do you get rid of a bitch like that? Whatever seemed to be the managing team was too busy smoking cigarettes and looking cool. I wanted to walk up to them and tell them to fire that dimwit and check what the fuck was going on in the kitchen, but then who am I? At last the burger arrived and was of it's usual standard, which is good, but then there isn't a lot that can go wrong with a burger.When I asked for the bill of course there was something amiss with the credit card machine and when our new best friend finally came back with my card and gave it to my girlfriend to sign, I almost lost my cool. I felt I had been had! They fucked up and I paid, including €4 for two pieces of bread that I never asked for, but which got an honourable mention on the menu as being charged per cover.

It was not the first time I had seen this idiot waitress in action and that was the biggest surprise, because you have to be blind to not see that this girl has the waiting skill of a cow. In other words if you don't see that, chances are you haven't got any idea what's going on and you can close your doors soon. I'm not sure if I will risk being served by this wannabe dominatrix again and so I for one will take my business elsewhere.