Why would someone spend tons of money renovating an old restaurant and turning it into a really attractive place, serve really bad food and allow a bunch of incompetent people to run it??
After swearing that I would never go back to Taxi Diner after the last time I was there, some colleagues of mine and I decided to go to watch the first half of the Germany-Serbia game and to have a late lunch. I should have reread Najib’s post and comments of several readers (including mine!) to remind me of how crappy that place really is!
To be honest the place looks very nice. They have private viewing rooms on the bottom and top floor. There are TVs all over the place to enjoy the game while eating and drinking.
We reserved two hours before we went and we couldn’t manage to get a table in the non-smokers section. The restaurant smelled like an ashtray.
The minute you walk in you feel that they are understaffed, unlike Roadster Diner which has a really high Waiter/Customer ratio.
We sat down exactly when the referee blew the first whistle.
Highlights:
0 minutes: Because of our previous experience with this restaurant, one of my colleagues asked the waiter how long it would take for the food to arrive. He told him “7 minutes for appetizers and maximum 22 minutes for the steak, everything else between 10 and 15 minutes”.
7 minutes: Lunch and drinks ordered. No steak ordered so maximum ETA for the food was @22 minutes
21 minutes: Drinks arrive
25 minutes: Man with vuvuzela walks in.
30 minutes: Man with vuvuzela starts vuvuzela-ing
35 minutes: Nothing
38 minutes: Serbia scores a goal and German fans everywhere can’t believe it. (This one’s for Najib). On a side note, did you notice how everyone is saying that this world cup is not fun because all the big teams are losing? Turns out the guy with the vuvuzela is a fan of the German team and does not express his joy by playing the vuvuzela
40 minutes: Waiter promises that the food will be on our table in exactly one minute.
45 minutes: Nothing. Table next to us get their food despite arriving after us.
Injury time: Nothing. We complain to the manager. The waiter gets annoyed and looks like he’s gonna cry.
Injury time + 10: We pay for the drinks and leave.
Injury time + 15: Eating chicken shawarmas at Hawa Chicken. Yum!
Never going back there again, that’s for sure! I highly doubt that this place will stay in business for long. I really hope the owners are aware that the place is run like a zoo, not a restaurant.
Wow! and i thought i had a bad experience !!
wtf is wrong with this place?
The cook must have been a german fan and was so pissed that he forgot to cook your meals 🙂 i need to try this dinner when i go to leb to see if its as bad as you and najib say !!
i can’t believe u were watching the game at office hours!!! CAUGHT!!!! HAHA
btw my friends went too, and they were annoyed that they ordered a sandwich, a coke, fries and they paid like 25000LL they thought it was tooo over priced for what it is..
Hehe Leila,shhh! Don’t tell anyone!
Hi guys
First time at your blog. Found you through a google alert for Lebanon Food 🙂 I want to say how much I LOVED this post! God, I miss Lebanon. Keep up the good work and at least I can live vicariously through your wonderfully expressed experiences.
Fouad
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi, I read your blog , and I thought of sharing my experience as well! I went there last Tuesday to watch Brazil match, the place was full and service was very good, waiters are friendly, food was on time ( burger was wooow) atmosphere was really nice! I recommend you to give it another try 🙂 maybe you will enjoy as I did !
hey all
first time at your blog, im happy to share my experience as well! i tried the place after 1 week from the opening my food was on delay for 30 min. and i thought it will be my last time in this place. on the 19th of june i was invited to TAXI with a bunch of friends to watch germany game vs australia all what i can tell that the place has transformed to a word cup chilling environment we were greeted and a hostess walked us to our table. I on purpose ordered a well done steak at 9 :30 pm and i was afraid to take it with me in a doggy bag at the end of the game and i thought i will never get my food before 2 hours because the place was extremely full! i was surprised that we got our food in 22 min. (we were 12 persons) and it was so delicious! when the manager visited our table i told him that i’m so impressed. btw guys i recommend to visit this place again because this is happens in all restaurant during rush hours!! thank you 🙂
Nancy,
Are you sure we are talking about the same place here?
Hi Najib, Yes am sure 🙂
Oh well then you must have been very lucky or we were just misfortunate. Maybe they are sexist and favour girls over boys lol.