5 Spice (Fort, Mumbai)

I have been a regular visitor of 5 Spice in Bandra ever since I moved to Mumbai. I love their appetizers, mains and desserts; and find their portion-sizes to be extremely generous! The ambiance of the restaurant is lovely and the staff courteous...And I sing these praises despite the fact that in 5-Spice, Chinese cuisine is not really authentic but comes with a slightly Punjabi touch of flavour. 

This Sunday was my first visit to 5 Spice that is situated in the Fort area. I was looking forward to a good time but alas, I was in for a shock! No, I am not being dramatic. When we reached at 7:45 p.m. there was already a big queue waiting outside the restaurant and we were told that we need to wait for 25 minutes before we get a seat inside. Since most restaurants were crowded owing to Kala Ghoda Arts Festival that was happening, we decided to wait. The 25 minutes actually translated to 45 minutes. I have waited for my turn outside restaurants before but when the duration is specified, never have I had to extend my wait for more than 5 minutes. I was a little irritated especially because only those people who were constantly reminding the maître d’ that they were waiting outside would be called inside. It was only when we saw that people who had come after us were getting seats that we started reminding him that we had been sitting outside for a very long time. Within 10 minutes after that reminder we were escorted to our table. 

It is said that good things always come to those who wait. Unfortunately, this saying was proved false at this particular restaurant. Our table-top was sticky and no one had bothered cleaning the table properly as a result of which, I, myself, began the task of cleaning the rice grains on the table with tissues. After three reminders, a waiter came and swabbed the table but he didn't really do a good job - the tables remained dirty throughout. 

We were not the only ones who were irritated. The man sitting at the table next to us also screamed at the waiters - he had been waiting for his order to arrive for over an hour. As we looked around we saw that we were not the only ones with no food at our table. Most people were just chatting and asking waiters when would their food arrive. Some tables had not even been served water. The waiters were conveniently avoiding looking into the customers' eyes and ignoring the voices that called out to them. There was only one waiter who seemed dedicated enough but he really could not do much! We realized that the waiting-time had been long outside because no one was leaving the restaurant as no one was being served food on time. 

Our order had been taken promptly within 5 minutes of our arrival but they served us after 45 minutes. Waiting outside to get a seat took the same amount of time as getting served inside. I have waited outside restaurants before but the moment you are inside, there has been no delay in service after that. What made it worse was that the quality of food was also not up to the mark. We had ordered a plate of fried chicken wantons. While some of the wantons on our plate were fine, there were some dripping in oil. We were so hungry that we did not have the patience to send it back and wait for a fresh order. The experience with the mains was equally horrid! I have never eaten food that tasted bad at 5 Spice. I have been to their branch in Bandra more than ten times and I have tried most of the items on their menu. Another set of people at the table next to us were also complaining about the food and how bad it was. There was no attempt made to replace the dish - the waiter merely asked them to select something else. 

When we tried pointing out to the maître d’of the bad service, he was extremely rude! Tempers are high usually when a restaurant is over-crowded but being discourteous to guests is unacceptable. Also if a restaurant cannot manage that many people, it should not entertain that number. I have visited 'Pizza Hut' many times - they are alright with having a lot of tables empty but they will not seat guests inside if they do not have the capacity of serving them. My father used to say that you can actually test how good a restaurant is if you go on a busy day. It is only then can you rate their true service. I find myself in total agreement with him after this experience. 

We left more than three-fourth of the mains that we had ordered. Even though we packed it, I knew I was never going to eat it again. I felt extremely guilty giving the food to a beggar - though beggars cannot be choosers, I felt that even they did not deserve to eat the food. 

We had to ask the waiters for a suggestion card at the end of our meal. I mentioned by dissatisfaction and I found all the waiters and managers gathered around reading it. They had rather smug expressions on their face and were treating it as if it was a joke! Whenever I have left comments at any restaurant, if the food has not been good, we have always had someone coming to our table and apologizing or at least asking us to elaborate more on our bad experience. Dismissing the comments so callously actually increased my fury!

 I wasted more than three hours of a precious Sunday evening here and it was a disastrous idea! I would recommend everyone to stay away from the outlet of 5 Spice in Fort. If they wish to enjoy a meal at 5 Spice, they should stick to the one in Bandra or try out other Chinese restaurants.