Japanese Restaurant Experience

My bestfriend and I had dinner yesterday. How nature conspired us to be together is a silly wonder that I would never dare question. She was the perfect person to be with at a perfect time. Although everything mentioned or discussed remains private, there is one thing I cannot hide.

That JAPANESE restaurant.

We wanted to eat Japanese, so went to this chic restaurant (a restaurant in the south, at the popular hangout place between Sucat and Bicutan). It was supposed to be good and was managed by the aunt of my bestfriend's fiance. We went inside the restaurant and the airconditioning was turned off, we perfectly understood that. There were no people inside, it's practically a weekday, a dead day apparently for the business. They hurried to turn on the airconditioning, but we decided to sit outside where it's fresher and colder.

We flipped through the menus and we were enticed by the familiar japanese dishes. We ordered drinks first and told the waitress to come back a little bit later as we were having optional paralysis. We decided to order their famous California Maki, naturally. Je, my bestfriend, opted to go for their Chicken Terriyaki, which she has tried before and I was still doodling whether I should get Ebi Tempura or Salmon Teriyaki. But I miss Shrimp more so I knew I was biased already.

The waitress came back, much to my dismay without the drinks yet, and took our orders. Je mentioned California Maki, but before she could add something else, the waitress in elegant Japanese uniform, sheepishly said that they had ran out of Maki. They have ran out of nori and the maki rice. I nearly gagged. They ran out of maki rice? A japanese restaurant that cannot apparently serve any MAKI because they've ran out of RICE?? Are they serious? I tried to control my disbelief; since Je practically knows the owner so I let her handle it the best way she knows how.

She urged me to choose a replacement while she ordered our dishes. I veered towards Sashimi, but I was not in the mood to eat something overly raw at that point since my gurgling stomach and emotions might hurl big time. Je mentioned her Chicken Teriyaki, but again the waitress, sheepishly said they've also ran out of Chicken Teriyaki! I became stoic. Je was livid. The waitress even cared to enumerate to us their available teriyaki dishes. Out of 8 choices, they apparently only had 3.

I began to loose my head as Je easily became frustrated. I was about to make hirit out of irritation, "Siguro may Tempura naman kayo" (I'm sure you guys have Tempura, right?) But before I even tried to utter that sarcastic statement, the waitress beat me to the punch. "Ay ma'am, wala narin po kaming tempura. Naubusan po talaga e, di nakapagdeliver." (Ma'am, we've also ran out of tempura, the delivery didn't come today.) Oh my gosh! Major bitch overload waiting to happen. Shit.

I looked at Je and wanted to ask something desperately. She looked at me and understood. We folded the menus, we even graciously asked to the waitress to cancel our orders..wrong term...drinks by the way; and prepared to leave the restaurant. The waitress was even surprised at first but eventually rushed inside, probably to halt the staff who were making iced teas.

Leaving the restaurant, I ranted my disbelief. What a freaking incompetent restaurant! Am I, except for Je, to surround myself with incompetencies with every attempt to kill me with frustration? No Makis, No Teriyaki's, No Tempuras in a Japanese restaurant is a complete utter disgrace. A specialty restaurant or any restaurant for that matter should never run out of major stocks. They should never disappoint their customers like that or they'll die a painful death. We didn't even order highly unknown and specialized dishes! We ordered mainstream Japanese dishes, and we were failed. What I really hate in restaurants is trapping me to order an alternative, something which I really didn't want in the first place. My father would've easily flipped; and threw the menu in the air. Believe me, I was close to demonstrating that.

My bestfriend was so frustrated that she promised to detail the experience to her fiance, in an attempt to save whatever that could be saved in that restaurant. I even told her that I originally wanted to eat there because of all the restaurants in the area, that's the remaining one which I haven't tried yet. And I think it would stay so, as I know better. I am not about to compromise myself.