Fricska 2.0 — Restaurant in Budapest

I was excited to try this restaurant before I even got to Budapest, however I was not able to (and will likely not go back to try it after the bad taste left in my mouth from our first try).

**Disclaimer - this review has nothing to do with the food (which looks amazing).

Restaurant is underground, a flight of stairs down from the street (where there is currently construction and access is not the easiest or most welcoming). Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs the restaurant smelled like a public washroom - I convinced my party we should stay as the food/reviews looked amazing. We asked for a table for 4 and the man asked if we had made a reservation, we said no were just looking for dinner (figuring that would be fine at 8:20 on a Tuesday night). The man rudely said well I don't know if we can seat you, we responded by pointing out that there was only one table on the restaurant being used (did they expect some swarm of people to arrive at this time, unlikely as everyone in Budapest wants to sit outside on patios this time of year). He again rudely said fine he would go check, came back and said "I can seat 4 of you at these high bar stool chairs" in a rude tone, we had two older people with us who cannot sit in these chairs, we said that and asked if anywhere else, he said no so we walked out. He was completely unapologetic (I atleast expected sorry we couldn't accommodate you, hope you come back or SOMETHING, but he was an A-hole). Hopefully they didn't have many more customers for the night and karma came back on this one.

I had to wait a few days before writing this review, as the experience was just so bad I did not want to overstep, but I still have a bitter taste in my mouth, and now I wont even be able to compare it to the food (outstanding food could have brought...

I have never left any feedback on any place I have been, regardless of how bad I thought it was. This ends today; the wait staff was rude, incompetent, arrogant, pushy and condescending at the same time. Literally everything that had anything to do with service was bad. The food itself was the only saving grace. My thinking is that they thought our table was not a right fit for the restaurant, that we were somehow beneath them. Some examples: A waiter without a word took our drink menu, shaked his head because it was wet from one of the glasses, and torn it up in front of us. This same waiter has resentfully poured the glass of wine we've been asking for for THE THIRD TIME, confidently and very visibly letting us know how disappointed he was at our attempt to remind him of what the staff has promised us. Another waiter forgot multiple items from what we've asked, promising they'd get back to us on all of them, which they didn't. This includes among other things asking how the steak should be done or that steaks require a different knife. At the time of paying, after the third person at our table didn't leave a tip, the then current waiter pleasantly reminded us that service charge isn't included in the price. I am about 80% sure they've discussed this amongst themselves as well, as their ridiculous behavior definitely seemed...

If you don’t like tourists, just put a sign on the front door.

Can a service be any worse and any more arrogant than this?! Particularly from a 45 years old (I assume) blond female waitress, that “waited” on me.

I wasn’t greeted at the door.

When I stopped in front of her waiting to be talked to, she said “yes..?” as saying “what do you want”?

I humbledly replied “Sorry, I don’t speak Hungarian. May I speak English?” in which she brutally replied “it depends”.

The dialogue was fallowed by “hm. Well, I don’t have a reservation, but I would love to have lunch with you guy. Do you thing that would be possible”?

She sat me at the table. Stone cold treatment the whole lunch (but as soon as a table of Hungarians arrived, the treatment was completely different). I tried to be nice all lunch. No success.

I ordered wine. She probably choose the oldest opened bottle possible (as the wine was already gone, volatile, but at this time I was committed with myself to just accept whatever came to the table). The meat at the main corse was just completely rubbery and chewy. Disgusting.

How come such an arrogant and horrible person work in a restaurant?! No wonder it was 100% empty. Shame on Michelin Guide to list such an...