First things first, the restaurant had no air conditioning, it was cooking in there, and no, not that kind of cooking. There was only one woman working, and after seating ourselves, and choosing our meals a customer went up to pay, and she still completely ignored our table. Eventually, we walked up and stood at the counter and still stood there and waited before she came to take our order. Because I wasn't familiar with one of the dishes I was ordering, I ordered exactly as written: the beef empanada, egusi soup, and poundo. I was met with a snarl and “what?” and just an attitude that didnt need to be there. I have eaten many different kinds of food, and eaten at many different restaurants in Regina, and around the world, this was the first time I felt like someone was intentionally trying to make me feel stupid and uncomfortable. While we waited, the microwave door was opened and closed and beeped roughly eight times, which didn’t exactly inspire any more confidence. While I understood that fish was part of the dish I ordered, what arrived had such an intensely pungent fish smell that it completely overwhelmed everything else on the table and in the restaurant. I managed about five bites. The meat was so tough in both of the dishes that we ordered that it fought back and honestly, it won. I understand that restaurants can be short-staffed and people can have bad days, but customers shouldn’t have to chase someone down just to place an order or be made to feel unwelcome for trying an unfamiliar dish. Shortly after leaving, I became sick in the Costco washroom. I can’t say with certainty that the food caused it, so I won’t claim that it did, but the timing, combined with the experience as a whole, left me feeling deeply uncomfortable. It’s been a few days and I'm still reeling. Unfortunately, the service was a complete miss for me. I won’t be returning.
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