ORZO. — Restaurant in Warsaw

Standard food for a terrible service.

I had been going to Orzo for a couple of times. Rather than the food, it was mostly because of the location and the ambience that me and my girlfriend liked to go there. We even went there to celebrate some big news for us- too bad her food was cold (for a second time in a row). But no biggy, we let it slide.

However today they hit the jackpot. I got this little note on the fortune cookies that they were giving as dessert on Black Friday. It said that I had a 'Free lunch at Orzo'. What was my first thought when I opened it back at work?: great! One more excuse to go back to Orzo with my girlfriend and enjoy.

Too bad it wasn't the case. While eating I gave the little note to the waitress and she, a bit harshly, corrected me that it was only a promotion on Friday. That's odd. The note didn't say anything about Friday or Black Friday for that matter. Nor did it even alluded to it. On the contrary, it had those plain words: 'Free lunch at Orzo'.

Ok. We finished our meal and then went to speak with the manager. But to my surprise this other waiter comes up to me and starts very aggressively pointing out that it was a promotion on Black Friday. My girlfriend then tried to make him understand in polish our concern. Bad call. This guy completely disregards me and starts effusively speaking in polish saying the same thing as the first waitress. I told him to address us in English since it was my matter but he completely blanks me out. Oh well.. He sets off and then the 'real' manager comes. Pointless. Same discourse as the other two. I try to explain to her that I felt happy I had a free lunch at Orzo and that I didn't imagine I would have to discuss my way through an offered free lunch. She says that we had to have seen the Facebook page to get further details- wow, apparently before going to lunch to any restaurant you first have to pop by their Fb page. (for the record, I don't have a Facebook account. It seems to be a requisite to dinne at Orzo). I suggested her that for the future they should specify a bit more clearly the rules of the game. Not spill out some generic promotions which apparently have their own small letters somewhere else.

Anyway, without an apology, without any sympathy, without even a decent good bye, the manager leaves. I paid the check. Never stepping a foot in that restaurant again. I recommend you guys the same. Or at least be aware to check Facebook first before entering that place. Who knows, maybe you'd be even charged to breathe there if it's specified in...

Well, if you are looking for a nice place to have dinner at, this place is definitely not on the list. Two stars for a nice interior design is all what it deserves. Last Saturday, I had a reservation for seven people at 7pm. It was my birthday party. For some reason, our table was not served properly (six cutlery sets and two glasses were all we got for the seven of us ), while other people arriving at the same time with us had their tables served. After waiting for 15 minutes, I decided to ask to set our table, and the waitress’ excuse for not doing it early was not having enough clean dishes. I would have understood if anyone would informed me about the issue at the beginning but not when I ask 15 minutes later. It is not my problem the restaurant ran out of the clean dishes. The food was served almost cold, and the waiting time for that was around 50 minutes. The truffle pasta was peppered so much that you couldn’t taste anything but pepper. The drinks were so bad and watery, probably because of the waiting time of 20 minutes - the ice had already melted before they came to our table. For some reason, tequila was served with no lime or salt, and the waitress’ excuse for that was “Oh sorry, I forgot”. Is that professional? After numerous complaints, we received some champagne, as an apology. However, one of the glasses was half full. At the end, the waitress asked if we wanted any desserts, pointing that it would be on her. Turned out, all of the desserts were included in the bill, except for the one. In addition, there is probably a shortage of napkins in the restaurant. We had to beg for some napkins as each time we would ask for some we would get two or three ones. For seven people. What is more, no one would clean up our table, and we had to sit with lots of dirty plates and glasses on our table. No one would ask us if everything was fine. It was impossible to get a water and make an order because there was no one around. Moreover, there was 10% of service included in the bill, and I genuinely don’t understand why I had to pay for it. There was no proper table service at all. Unfortunately, my birthday party was spoiled. I wasted my time and money on this unpleasant and disappointing experience. Also, I emailed to the administration with a complaint a several days ago. Got no response. Definitely not...

We decided to give this place a try, hoping for a nice meal and maybe even a new favorite spot. Unfortunately, what we got was an experience that was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

We ordered a pizza, which was fine, nothing remarkable. The carbonara, however, was an entirely different experience. The moment it was brought to the table, it had such a strong smell something alarmingly close to a wet dog that I couldn’t even bring myself to try it. I’m not the type of person who sends a dish back just because I don’t like it I’ll usually make the best of it and try to enjoy what I can. But this time was different.

When we returned the dish, the manager insisted it “couldn’t be true,” yet the odor was unmistakable and noticeable from a distance. That is simply not normal for a carbonara or for any dish, really. We considered the possibility of a spoiled egg or perhaps some egg whites slipping in by mistake. Strangely enough, while the staff claimed they don’t use eggs in the recipe, the menu very clearly states otherwise.

To add to the experience, once we had visibly finished our pizza, the plates were left sitting in front of us while the waiter strolled past several times without bothering to clear them. Eventually, we had to stop him ourselves and practically beg for the bill just to be able to leave. Only then did the manager himself come over to “apologize.” The pasta was taken off the bill which was the least that could be done considering we hadn’t even touched it with a fork yet he still insisted there were no eggs in the dish. As a final attempt at making amends, he brought over limoncello shots, but by then it was far too late to salvage the experience.

It’s difficult to say what was more disappointing the dish itself or the denial of what was clearly obvious to anyone...