Oslo

I understand that when going out to a restaurant the food is the star, but it's not the only component that makes for a good experience. My first job involved customer service, and I think good customer service is a lost art. Sometimes I feel like giving good customer service comes natural to people, while others need to be trained at it. I also feel that people's expectations and appreciation for it, especially in the restaurant business isn't as high as it used to be. Because it isn't as enforced, we are used to just mediocre service. As long as our water glass gets filled and food comes out in the correct order, we are generally happy. Why am I talking about this? Well, I experienced some terrible service over the weekend. My friends and I decided a few years ago that as we get older the more bills we get, and the less important gifts become on your birthday. We put a stop to the gifts and decided to just go out for each of our birthdays at a new restaurant. It was my close friend's birthday this week, and she picked Oslo for her celebratory (becomes less celebratory as you get older though!) birthday dinner. I hate to judge a restaurant on service alone, but it was so bad it ruined the whole experience for me. I don't even know where to begin...

For those of you who aren't familiar with Oslo. It's located on Woodward and had closed for a bit, but reopened in 2007. They often host DJs who spin techno and trance music in the basement. The food consist of sushi and Thai specialties. These are two of my favorites, so going into it I was pretty excited. We arrived when the restaurant was just about to fill up. The menu is reasonably priced. I've been trying to order a variety of items to try for the sake of the blog (or that's the excuse I like to tell myself for being a pig and order way too much food). I ordered an appetizer of Karee Puff, which is potatoes, peas, ground chicken, and yellow curry in a pastry. It was pretty good. I haven't had Indian in awhile, so that kind of satisfied that craving for a bit. I also ordered a sushi roll--the Summer Refresh. It did not have any rice and consisted of spicy tuna, avocado, tomango, crab, and wrapped with a cucumber. It was very light and refreshing--hence the name. I was expecting it as an appetizer, but it came after my meal. My birthday friend also ordered a sushi roll, also expecting it as an appetizer. She ordered the Spider, which rocked! For my entree, I ordered the Spicy Noodles. I was craving some Pad Thai..but I wanted to switch it up a bit. My taste buds are always happy with spicy foods, but my stomach...not so much! Besides my stomach, here were the other issues,

Things not to do if you are a server:

1. Do not forget to serve glasses of water! This is serving 101---Don't forget the water and don't forget to refill the drinks. We were waiting for the server to come back for at least 15 minutes, to the point where I was going to go up to the bar to ask for some water, until another waitress noticed.

2. Do not forget to serve someone their meal. We all were half way through our entrees, while one of my friends wasn't even served her salad yet. The waitress was made aware of this, but later totally forgot to serve her the sushi she ordered.

3. Appetizers come before the entrees, not after.

4. The excuse of "the reason why I don't have your sushi yet is because we don't know where the other sushi chef went" or "this is only my second day and I don't even know the menu" are not valid excuses.

5. Charging the credit card on someone else's balance isn't really good practice.

6. Be aware of your guest's satisfaction and try to compensate when you can. You shouldn't be told to take something off the bill because you forgot to order it causing the person to get their meal after the rest of the table was done with their meal.

I don't mean to be a complete bitch about it, but you go into restaurants expecting at least mediocre service and hope for better. It was my friend's birthday and I always want the best for my friends, so it's upsetting when it's less than that. If I were to judge the food by itself, it was pretty good. Good enough to ignore the bad service and go back...not quite. It will require some healing before I go back, but if I were, I'd stick with the sushi. I understand it could of been a fluke (although one of the people I dined with said she had been there a few weeks ago and the same thing happened to her). Also, I want this blog to be about the good things the city has to offer...but I don't think anything in Detroit should settle for less. I'm going to try not to hinder my fork rating just on service, but it does affect it....it's 2 out 5.

Wasabi

What a day it's been!! I'm back at school. Although I love my job, I need to pursue a career that will provide me with some growth, mentally, as well as, in the pocket. So, I find myself back at Wayne State taking some courses in Anatomy & Physiology, Nutrition, and Developmental Psychology. After my first class, I headed to Marwell's Book Store and dropped a whopping $580 on books!!! Now that's what I need to change careers to...something in the book business! After giving my left arm for my books, and feeling defeated before even starting the course in Anatomy & Physiology, I decided to head to the new restaurant called Wasabi for some good ol' Asian fare to cheer me up. Wasabi is nicely situated near the D.I.A. in the Park Shelton building. From the outside I didn't know what to expect and I don't know if it's just because they don't have an official sign yet, but once I was inside I was pleasantly surprised at the decor. As with many Asian restaurants, the style was simple and clean. My friend and I were attempting to be adventurous with our selections. We began our meal with the chef selection of sushi. This was three pieces of nigiri sushi---for those of you who stay away from sushi this is the one that has a ball of rice with a piece of raw fish on top. I have to admit that I have to be in the right mood to want it. We both wanted to try all of them so we attempted to bite into each piece so we could share....I do not recommend this because we looked like a bunch of idiots with rice all over the place! I have to say that they had to be one of the best places where I've had nigiri. We also ordered a appetizer of pork and vegetable dumplings. They were excellent. I'm not a huge fan of pork, but these were delicious! Because it was freezing cold outside, I decided to go with the Sansai Udon. My friend was a bit more adventurous and ordered the Vegetarian Tofu Bibimbab. This is basically a bowl of random stuff (iceburg lettuce, mushrooms, rice, vegetables, and fried tofu) and came with a squeezable hot sauce. She looked at the bowl and wondered, "What am I supposed to do with this?" The guy who seemed to be in charge, must of saw the confused face and came over to explain the dish to us. The hot sauce (which reminded me of a Asian version of ketchup) was squeezed all over the dish and then all the ingredients were mixed together. This is not for the type of person who doesn't like there foods touching! I enjoyed my noodles, but was a bit disappointed that my dish didn't provide as much excitement. Next time I'm definitely going try one of the Bibimbab, especially one that comes in a stone bowl to keep the food hot. Wasabi provided me a nice breather to calm down, and a great meal. For those reasons, I will give Wasabi four forks out of five.

Angelina Italian Bistro

Now that the holidays are behind us, I had a chance to sit down and have a dinner with some of my closest friends. We decided to check out Angelina Italian Bistro, which just opened downtown a few months ago on Broadway. It's located near the Detroit Opera House in the old Madison Theatre. The design of the restaurant is classy, but comfortable. The thing that caught my eye when I first walked into the restaurant was the glass blown chandelier made by a student from the Center of Creative Studies. The bar almost took up half the restaurant and is very welcoming if you just wanted to drop in for a drink. They included a good selection of wine and beer from Michigan. From the the chandelier to the food, you can tell that they made an effort to include the essence of Detroit in their restaurant.

Before I begin on the food, let me just say that because I grew up with great Italian food, I can be a bit picky when it comes to authentic Italian dishes. That being said...here are my thoughts on the food. We started off our meal with the Calamari appetizer. It came with a very interesting sweet dip. I didn't know what to expect with a carmelo sauce...a sweet dip with calamari sounded kind of odd. But I have to admit it worked really well with it. I wish I had the appetite to try the housemade mortadella and the pickled fennel (I lovvve fennel)...maybe next time. They served warm bread with hummous, olive oil, and honey butter. The hummous was garlicy...just the way I like it. For my entree I tried the Shrimp Risotto. This dish was okay. The vegetables needed to be cooked a little longer..the carrots where still crunchy. Although the basil oil that was around the dish made it look pretty, I don't think it was necessary for the dish. It's already rich, and the addition of the oil put it over the edge. The mooch that I am (I do it for the blog...or at least that's what I tell myself to make me feel better) tried a bit of my friend's gnocchi and appreciated the fact that the texture and taste of the actual gnocchi was very similar to what I was used at home. The sauce was a bit too rich for me. I also had a bite of the Kalmatta Pizza and thought that it was good. Service was excellent...everyone from the host to the server was very attentive and friendly. Overall, I thought that it was good...especially after a few glasses of Rose' wine! I'll give Angelina Bistro 3 forks out of 5.