I love Beaugrenelle and was really looking forward to trying this new restaurant. The decor was…read moreappealing and I've always been impressed at how Parisians embraced the American-style diner concept. When we walked in, everyone was friendly and the waitress took our order right away. There were only a few people in the restaurant and about ten staff members on the floor, so it makes sense that they attended to us quickly.
Half an hour later, I got my drink (water came a good ten minutes after that). To be fair, I ordered a milkshake, a drink synonymous with midwestern Woolworths, not Parisian shopping malls. But something that tastes exactly like a Slim Fast smoothie should never take so long. I don't blame MyPop for the taste, of course. It's a problem endemic to American-style restaurants throughout Paris. This is America's fault- along with the $40 million given to France under the Marshall Plan, someone could have told them you're supposed to use ice cream to make milkshakes.
40 minutes in, we still hadn't eaten. "Should have gone to Chipotle," I thought, kicking myself.
The waitress messed up our order four times. It's not like we asked for any special condiments or combinations or anything- we ordered straight off the menu. The menu that they wrote. When confronted the first time, we politely pointed out the mistake, which she refused to acknowledge, allowing her colleague to take care of the mess for her. Only she didn't take care of it- they forgot our order several times. The manager finally came out and blamed us for the problem.
"There were chili peppers and caramelized onions on this burger, but not enough," he said, throwing the plate on the table. Invisible chili peppers? Caramelized onions that looked exactly like raw onions? You have to give MyPop credit for these stunning advances in the fields of physics and food science.
In case you're wondering, we did get our meals eventually, replete with overcooked patties and soggy french fries. I'm American, so if these patties were too well done for me, I can't imagine how French people, raised on steak bleu and tartare, could handle them.
It's worth mentioning that the owner was present in the restaurant, oblivious to the shenanigans going on among his staff. I could be wrong, but it looked like he waited even longer for his food than we did. He kept going back behind the counter to check on it's status.
When the waitress finally brought us our check (after 20 minutes of asking), she refused to apologize and said blatantly, "It's not my fault. It's the organization." Grand total: 60 euro. Here's some things I would have rather done with 60 euro:
-Buy two weeks of groceries
-Feed a North Korean family for a month
-Eat 12 burgers at Five Guys
-Enjoy dinner for two with wine at Les Crocs de l'Ogre or Anahi
-Drink multiple cocktails at Candelaria
-Wolf down 30 Pierre Hermé macarons
-Purchase a cashmere sweater
-Fly roundtrip from Paris to Moscow, and have plenty left over to buy 15 Snickers bars in the airport
I understand that MyPop just opened, and everything would have been okay if someone had just said they were sorry instead of blaming us for everything. Next time, I'm going to get all American on them and complain so loudly in my nasal accent that they give me everything for free just to shut me up. If there is a next time.