I had lunch at Smorgas Chef Midtown today. It was very disappointing. I waited 15 minutes, sitting there with my menu, but no one came over. It wasn't crowded; there were only 4 other parties there. It never should've taken so long! I called out to the waitress just to get coffee. Either she was very disorganized or the restaurant is not set up efficiently -- after she brought it, she had to run off to find milk and sweetener.\r
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And when the coffee arrived, it was cold.\r
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It took another 10 minutes to get hot coffee. Did she ask me if I was ready to order then? Nope! She had to run off to get the phone (while the manager on duty was eating at the bar). I had to get her attention again to order. I asked for the Nordic onion soup to be followed by a ham & Jarlsberg sandwich. She asked if I wanted the Power Lunch deal, which includes soup, sandwich and salad for $14. Since I had been granted an inordinate amount of time to peruse the menu, by this time I was quite familiar with it, so I told her that sandwich wasn't on the Power Lunch menu. So she looks at it and mumbles, ""Oh, you're right."" I asked her if I could get that sandwich on the Power Lunch menu, and she said, ""Um, no."" Okay, so, let's go with what I originally ordered (sigh).\r
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Note to all servers: Know your menu!\r
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She was nice, not rude, just clueless and slower than molasses. The soup was nothing out of the ordinary -- but the busboy who brought it was careless and it slopped out of the bowl, all over the little tray it came on. By this time, 3 other tables had left and only 1 had come in, so I'm puzzled as to why she needed a busboy to bring the soup to me. Anyway...\r
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The ""ham"" in the sandwich was actually Canadian bacon, and there was way too much mustard. I had to scrape a lot off. Sliced tomatoes (not in menu's description) were pale and flavorless. Overall, I considered my meal mediocre, almost bad. The place is shabby, the seats uncomfortable, the bathroom dirty. \r
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Don't waste your time.
Pros: Could be a good location for businesses in the area, if economy gets better
Cons: Lacks heart, staff doesn't care, food isn't very good, place is a little dirty
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