le Tresor Čemodāns — Restaurant in Riga

The waiter at this restaurant is likely the rudest person of the entire continent. We called a week in advance to make a 5pm reservation, and they confirmed over the phone. I even checked multiple times over the phone to make sure they have the name and the date & time correct, because the person over the phone sounded in a rush and I was worried they were gonna make a mistake. Hah. Guess what happened. We walked into the restaurant and they looked at a piece of paper where they cursorily sketched out the reservation names & # people, and told us our name wasn’t on the reservation. I asked nicely if they could double check since I was certain they confirmed our reservation over the phone. They made us wait 20 minutes awkwardly in the middle of the tables next to the counter and completely ignored us. Both the owner and the waiter kept walking past us, shook their heads and rolled their eyes. they also were speaking to each other in Latvian about us. We couldn’t understand, but from the tone of it they weren’t saying anything remotely nice. At least have the courtesy of telling us what’s going on? The waiter finally came to tell us that “you’re not on the reservation. Nothing we can do”. I asked “but I called? Who took my call then?” And they just went on to ignore me. Seriously? We changed all of our travel plans so we could make the 5pm reservation and you didn’t even have the courtesy to say “sorry we made a mistake”??

Small restaurants make mistakes during busy times — i understand. But most people are apologetic, try to problem solve with the customer, or at least offer another time. None of these happened with this restaurant.

The waiter was extremely rude the whole time, and was mumbling words about us in Latvian, yet completely made us feel unwelcomed and uncomfortable.

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND...

First things first: The food at Čemodāns was excellent. We had Risotto and the three course “restorānu nedēļa” meal. The prices were fair. That being said, we were unhappy with our visit for the following reasons:

In general, the staff of Čemodāns seemed stressed and overburdened on this Friday evening. When we arrived and told them about our reservation, they told us they couldn’t find it. Only after we showed our confirmation e-mail, we were shown to our table. After that, it took around 20 minutes (!) until we were asked what we wanted for drinks, and 20-30 more minutes until our drinks finally arrived (that was after we had already received our meals). During that time, the staff tried to serve us and our neighbors meals and drinks that belonged to different tables. In addition, the staff asked us what we had ordered several times long after we had originally ordered. In addition, when the bill came, the total amount was 10 euros more than the sum of all items. We kindly asked the waiter about this, and received 10 euros back with no hesitation.

I assume that all these things were honest mistakes that happened due to the staff being under stress on that particular evening. In addition, the food was very good. This is why I will give Čemodāns...

7/10 Very interesting experience. Most of the reviews where very true to heart. I came here with my family for my birthday and I must say I was surprised that the whole restaurant was empty. We ordered 2 meals each me specifically having their pasta with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes. With an empty restaurant it took them about 2 hours to serve 6 people. The food itself was pretty good but not worth the wait, the interior was nice and somewhat modern but there was a sort of smell due to all of the suitcases. Can't say here I would go here again but not a regretful experience either. Don't get their steak it's not worth the price, my brother got it and said it was...