K P.
Yelp
The food was really good and the place was charming. I enjoyed the décor, the music, and the low lighting. However, I cannot give this place more than two stars, which is quite generous considering our experience.
We were very dissatisfied with the customer service. When I asked the server for a spoon or a fork, she responded that the restaurant did not have any spoons or forks. I responded that they must have spoons because they serve desserts. The server admitted that I was right. She however stated that the spoons were only for the desserts and she was "not allowed" to give them to us. I asked then if the manager would be allowed to give us spoons and she answered in affirmative. The first thing that the manager said was again that the restaurant did not have spoons. I again responded that they must have them because they serve desserts. Again, he admitted that I was right. Lying into customers' face is a questionable business strategy.
The manager explained that it was the restaurant's tradition to only allow eating with hands and that he would not break it. I pointed to my plate, which had four different stews on it, including a runny spinach dish and explained that I did not want to eat all these stews with the bread-like pancake that they served it with and which was supposed to be used for eating their dishes as opposed to using silverware. (If you are new to this type of eating, you take a piece of that bread, grab food with it and eat it together. At the end, you end up eating an equal, if not greater, amount of bread than the food that you ordered.) He said that he could bring us sliced cucumbers that could serve as spoons. There is a dramatic difference between encouraging certain practices and forcing them upon people. Here, we were forced to eat our food with cucumbers since eating with hands and consuming a very large amount of bread were not the options for us.
If the restaurant is so inflexible, it should clearly state on their menu that eating with hands is mandatory and no exceptions will be granted.
To only make our dining experience worse, the area that we were sitting in (downstairs of the restaurant) was quite incompatible with how the restaurant wants you to eat their food. The downstairs area has extremely low chairs (like for babies) and extremely low tables (also like for babies). I am really not exaggerating here. At first, I actually thought that it was pretty charming. However, since you are sitting on this tiny chair at a tiny table, your plate is quite far from you. As a consequence, you are squeezing your stomach (very uncomfortable) when you try to bend over and get close to your plate in order to either eat with your hands, or in our case, with cucumbers. Otherwise, you are risking having the food all over you.
Ok, I get it, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. But, this is Frankfurt, Germany, and not an African country where my request for a spoon or fork could be shocking or offending to local traditions. I have been to numerous African style restaurants in various countries and have never encountered a similar problem. Well what can I say, when you pay 10 Euros or less for a meal, you get what you pay for, here it would be a substandard service.
