We met Stuart and Fi for a last breakfast. Tuk’d to Casa Jaali, set into the northern headland of Patnem Bay. A space previously occupied by The Secret Gourmet and then Kala Bahia. It’s a lovely spot that they have only enhanced. We had a table looking out across the bay. Gorgeous view.
Food was very good. Service was abysmal. Something had clearly gone very wrong in their kitchen and with the wait staff. We waited over an hour for 2 of the breakfasts and had to constantly remind that we needed cutlery and napkins… then they would bring one napkin for the 4 of us and look amazed when we asked for more…. Bob ordered a pot of tea and got a cup…. They knew it was bad though and without being asked, apologised when they presented the bill and had knocked the price of all the drinks off.
Anyway, we had a lovely – if more stressful than envisaged – last breakfast and then they went off in a tuk to return to Eve’s, their luggage and a taxi to the airport and we walked up the beach to Sea front and a day of swimming, basting and, for Bob, several hours of playing canasta.
Tonight, we decided to give La fretta, a newish Italian restaurant in Patnem a go. It is just beyond Little Ganesha, one road back from the beach, towards Palolem. Oh dear.. It didn’t get off to a good start when we arrived to find our reserved table had been given to someone else. We werent late – we were a bit early — but someone had sat down at the big table – a lone man – and rather than move him off a table for 8, they let him sit there and then had to cobble a few tables together for us. David and Deborah walked at this point and some of us would have followed them… but….. anyway…. we ordered eventually. The service was horrendous. Eddie ordered a whisky and sprite. They had no sprite or even lemonade. We walked a maximum 40 feet outside the restaurant to the little convenience store in the same block and bought a bottle. How hard would that have been for them? The food when it came was good – wood fired pizzas and lovely pasta. However, I ordered butternut squash ravioli with truffle sauce and there wasn’t a hint of truffle in it. Rather an overwhelming sweetness. Rather more sweetness than I would expect from just butternut squash… but who knows…. Bob’s pizza was good. It came to about £23 per couple. That would be ok if the food and/or the location was better than average Neither was. I don’t know…. was it better than Magic View? Not for me in terms of food. I wouldn’t go back unless I had firm assurances that the service had drastically improved. I did not get the sense that this was a one off problem like our breakfast experience at Casa Jaali. There seemed to be zero recognition from the staff that there was a problem with their performance and that just means, it will not improve…. so….. I’m afraid La fretta just joined my no-go list along with Home….. Bob gets cross with me when I complain in these places but honestly, how are they going to improve if you don’t tell them that it is not up to standard. Someone’s invested some money here in pizza ovens and a professional kitchen. If service is not improved, that will be a total waste of money. There’s too much competition for a sub standard place to survive for long.
