If not for Chef Giovanni's nice personality, he would receive 1 star only. Personality is not first on my list when it comes to shelling out hundreds of dollars for a special occasion. What kind of professional chef scopes out your refrigerator to see if you have any orange juice on hand to serve you--orange juice you've already paid HIM to purchase?
Let me back up. I hired Chef Giovanni to prepare a birthday brunch for 3 people. Chef Giovanni quoted a price of $75-$100 per head for brunch--depending on menu selections. However, after I selected my items, the price suddenly catapulted to $500! For that price, you'd think the menu selections would include caviar, or truffles, or something other than the chicken w/couscous, crepes, omelets, potatoes, salad, apple tart, banana flambe, orange juice, and coffee we agreed on. When I responded that $500 was entirely over budget for three people, he lowered it to $330--the highest I could go. Should've heeded the red flag when he called the morning of the brunch to ask the time of the brunch. Later, he was professional enough to text to say he'd be late.
I didn't see it, but my sister noticed that while preparing our meal, Chef Giovanni used spices from our cabinet and was about to pour our own orange juice into our glasses and serve it to us! However, there wasn't enough juice to go around so he put it back in the fridge. On top of that, we were served buckwheat crepes (instead of regular) and several of the menu items were omitted. Even coffee!
With the exception of the delicious banana flambe, the food was overloaded with ginger (not a fan of ginger) and otherwise quite plain and uninspiring. I'd prefer less than average diner food.
Chef Giovanni was unwilling to compensate by way of a free dessert or even a single dollar returned. A nice personality does not make up for bad character.
Thank goodness another chef (Chef PK of PK's kitchen) saved the weekend celebration with a tasty, well-presented dinner only two days later. read more