Good flavors surly waitstaff...
After spending an exhausting day wandering through Berlin (in 98 degree heat) my husband and I went looking for dinner. Just down the street from our hotel we found Toro Negro. At first blush this looked like a very good place. The cuisine is Spanish/Portuguese tapas variety- full of savory spicings, paella and much more.
The maitre'd spoke some English and got us seated right away in the sidewalk dining area. He gave us menus and brought some bottled water. The menu was full of enticing offerings. The prices very reasonable. We thought we were in for a treat. The waiter came round and took our order for drinks. We ordered beer which arrived barely cooled- not cold. The waiter had about 4 other tables, which were also being mostly ignored. The maitre'd stood chatting with some friends and some other fellow kept walking in and out of the restaurant and wandering the street as if he was waiting for something. We sat with the closed menues in front of us for about 15 minutes, finally the waiter returned to take our order.
We ordered our food, I chose an Andalusian chicken dish, my husband chose a paella. The waiter told him it would be 40 minutes for the paella to cook. OK, not a problem, we just chilled and drank our beer. After about 30 minutes the waiter brought some bread rolls and a garlic spread which was delicious, about 10 munites later our food arrived. my chicken was excellently prepared and the sauce was very savory and enjoyable. It was served with seasoned rice. All excellent in my opinion. My husband's paella was undercooked. Specifically the rice was under-done, and he's a person that enjoys al-dente rice. Otherwise he enjoyed the seafood.
We finished our meal at about 9:15, and the temperature was still very hot. I was feeling exhausted from the heat and walking around, so I only finished half of my food. My husband had some left overs too, so we thought we'd take them back to the room for lunch next day. The waiter had been dealing with a couple sat behind us, and apparently they didn't like one of the pizzas he had brought. When he returned to the kitchen my husband asked for a box, and the waiter made a shoving motion at him as if to say, "I don't care what the hell you want right now". I understand how frustrating it can be when a customer is difficult- but that was not us... Up to this point we had sat through a rather long, drawn-out dinner without a thought to complaint.
Then the maitre'd rushed to our table an set down some shots of grappa, I said no thank you that I was too hot and tired but I guess he interpreted that to mean I was displeased. We asked if we could get the leftovers packed for take away, but he just hurriedly stacked one plate on top of the other and took them away. I saw the waiter leave in his street clothes, and I understood the frustration of the maitre'd. However I didn't feel that their frustration should be taken out on us. We had been polite and patient guests for our entire meal- and then suddenly treated as an annoyance.
The next morning my husband was sick, and I'm guessing that it was the under cooked rice to blame.
I would recommend this restaurant only with a very pronounced caveat emptor. read more
