This was such a disappointing experience that it is hard to know where to begin, other than to suggest that Chez Max at Lower Baggot Street failed in all departments.
We were a party of four including cherished friends from the US and took our places on the evening of 14th June, 2014 at the invitation of our most generous host .
Let me begin with the food, I suppose. It was a Saturday night and I would have thought a reliable restaurant would be out to make an impression on the key night of the week, but the dishes we ordered each came across as pre-cooked way ahead of the evening. Certainly the vegetables had a stewed quality. Not much of an excuse as it was early in the evening and the restaurant had yet to get busy.
Our individual orders simply did not present as a satisfying culinary experience. I have a very good appetite and on most restaurant visits my plate is clear once I've finished. Not so on this occasion. My attitude was, apparently, in sync with Chez Max, if the kitchen couldn't be bothered, why should I?
Moving on to the ambience. I would have to say, on first impressions, it was pleasant and the welcome seemed to be genuine, but given how the evening progressed it was as if to have someone graciously help us off with our coats and then promptly throw them into the corner of the room.
Then we come to the biggest fail of the evening. Actually, the second biggest fail of the evening, which was the standard of service. The principle problem was one of communication. It quickly became clear that our waitress was only very recently arrived in the city, most likely having come to attend one of the English Language summer schools. A number of times it was necessary for her to call on a colleague to translate our requirements and even then she really didn't know her way around the menu. We asked for a jug of water for the table as asking for repeat glasses of water had become tiresome (much to the horror of our of American friends where a carafe of water is a given), however, we were told the restaurant didn't have jugs of water. I'm very sure there were jugs of water but once again our request was simply not understood. I mean, if they had them over two thousand years ago at the Marriage of Cana then I'm sure they could have managed it in Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2 in the year 2014 anno domini.
So, how could Chez have failed us even more so?
Well, every restaurant has its off-nights and occasionally one has to accept that, but when, as was the case with our host for the evening, she discretely spoke to the manager, away from the table, and expressed in calm and reasonable terms her very strong displeasure at the shortcomings of Chez Max she barely had an acknowledgement of her dissatisfaction.
Not even crocodile tears were shed, and the restaurant conceded not so much as a breadstick, never mind any kind of discount on the bill, nor the invitation to a liqueur.
Now, that's a fail on the nuclear scale in my book. Time and again in the catering sector we see the signs, the feedback forms etc. all hollering 'tell us how we can do better', and there was our host, in that spirit, willing to give 'Chez Max' a 'wake up and smell the coffee' red alert, only to discover their true mission statement appeared to be: 'Shut up and give us your money!!'
You know, it's really quite easy to write a stinker of a review and use caustic wit to make one's point. To appear clever and droll, such as I could be accused of doing in this thread, but, in fact, Chez Max at Lower Baggot Street valiantly earned each of my heaps of derision.
I'm just left wondering why they can't possibly apply the same dedication to running a restaurant. read more