Food feedback
By Jonathan Doughty | Published: 18 January, 2006
Coverpoint’s Jonathan Doughty serves up his regular shopping centre restaurant review. This month: Cantina Mariachi
For the first food feedback of the New Year I decided to return to Bluewater and see how well Cantina Mariachi had settled down in the unit which opened in the last quarter of 2005.
On arriving at Bluewater, it was obvious that the sales were still in full swing. The malls were busy and food would soon be on many people's agendas. I walked into the Wintergarden food court at 11.40 and approached the unit, but was told they did not open till 12.00 noon. In the next 20 minutes well over a dozen people were refused entry or walked away.
At just after 12 noon, I went to the door and waited to be shown to a seat. After nearly five minutes a member of staff appeared and showed me to the table nearest the door, and walked away. There were only two other people in the unit. Seven minutes later another member of staff asked if I would like to order and I decided on a Chicken Caesar Salad and Diet Coke. Three minutes later the server returned and advised that they had no Parmesan cheese, because the delivery driver had let them down again, and that this was always happening.
Two minutes later the food and drink arrived. It was very average, but at £5.95 I suppose my expectations were not very high. I ordered an Espresso afterwards which was much nearer the quality mark and left, after paying a total bill of £8.95.
Overall a soulless, cold and impersonal experience, which left me wondering about two things. One, why do they manage to get it so wrong, when on recent visits to Spain and Portugal the units positively hum? And two, could somebody not have walked to M&S, just minutes away, and bought some Parmesan?
