I've been meaning to write about my dining experience the first time my family and I had a meal at Bigby's Davao but it was only recently that I came up with this Davao blog. Perhaps it is also because of this "quite not so pleasant" dining experience that I had the urged to create a Davao blog. One that will talk about my love for the city but would not be patronizing enough not to talk about its flaws. The purpose is not to mock the endearing island but to improve for the best.
Whenever my family and I celebrate certain occasion, we go to a pretty fancy restaurant to have a meal and on our 2nd Year Wedding Anniversary in September 2008 we went to Bigby's Davao. At first I thought Bigby's were quite expensive but it's not really what I expected. Well, it's not cheap but it's not expensive either. I'd say price is reasonable enough.
Upon entering the restaurant we were greeted by the staff and led to a table with comfortable cushioned seats. We came at 1 o'clockish which was rather late for lunch so there were only few people dining in which I thought was very good, food will be faster than during rush hour, as I was already starving like I could eat a horse. Also, our 1 year and 9 months son fell asleep on our way to the mall until we settled at Bigby's so we're actually hoping to have our ordered food as quickly as possible so that my husband and I could eat at the same time, have a real feel of our wedding anniversary, and enjoy the food while our kid was sound asleep on the cushioned seat.
The moment we sat and got the menu we made our choice right away. My husband ordered a chicken dish while I ordered baby back ribs, sodas for both of us, and a portion of plain french fries for our kid. Although I fancy having dessert after, I didn't order any yet as I thought maybe we would be so full after the main dish that we'll have no more room for dessert. When the waitress got our order I asked her to tell the chef to make it as quick as possible for I am really hungry already. While waiting for our order, my husband and I were amusing our self with the nice exotic display in the restaurant then a waiter came to offer dessert and handed us a menu so I said okay will see the menu and maybe we'll order later. Then after a few minutes, another waitress came to offer us dessert. I told her someone else came to do the same thing and that we're already checking the menu.
By this time, though, I was already getting a bit pissed as I thought it's crazy to offer someone a dessert when they even have not had their main dish yet but I just didn't want to spoil the occasion by losing my cool so I managed to remain calm. After a few minutes , again, for the third time, another waitress came to offer us dessert and I just snapped. I said, "Is this restaurant really like this? I mean, we haven't had our main meal yet and all the crews have been non-stop buggering us of ordering dessert! Do you, like, get a commission out of this or something? I hope yes 'cause if not I'd really, really be pissed off!" Then the waitress apologized saying she didn't know the others have already offered us the same. I said, "Which is just crazy! Imagine if there were 10 service crews here and everyone will ask a customer of the same thing. Has your Manager thought of dividing the dining area into sections and assigning one or two crews for each section and focusing only on the assigned section like any other restaurants do so something like this wont happen?" While I was talking to the waitress, the manager or the supervisor, I'm not sure but she was wearing a different uniform, came to the table behind us and pretended arranging the condiments there like I wouldn't notice that she's eavesdropping, which I thought was a weird way of supervising or managing for that matte
r - you see a customer complaining and all you do is eavesdrop?
Finally, our order came after more than 20 minutes when we were told it'll only take 15 minutes. The food was great, the portion was rather big and the taste was good too. In fact, the portion was that big for me that I didn't have anymore room for the dessert after so we didn't order one. While we were having our meal the french fries was served but it was flavored and not plain as what we ordered. I thought my son wouldn't like it flavored so I asked the waitress to change it as ordered. When we finished our meal, I asked for the bill and upon receiving it I checked the items and found there were double entries of french fries, one flavored and the other one plain. So I asked the waitress to correct it because we didn't eat the flavored fries anyways. After a few minutes, I got the correct bill so I paid. Our son was already awake at this time and since his feet were already itching to roam around the mall my husband decided to have me wait for the change while they go ahead and just wait for me outside.
Considering that only 3-4 tables were occupied at that time, waiting for my change for more than 10 minutes was rather unusual so I decided to approach the cashier for my change. As if it wasn't enough that they pissed us off with the dessert thing, it turned out that the waitress has forgotten all about my change and the change has been lying there near the cash register all those time that I was waiting. Imagine if I didn't approach the cashier, I'd be waiting forever! I thought I really had it that I just wanna get out there and don't want to come back anymore. But before leaving I gave the stupid waitress and the idiotic cashier the sharpest and most killing look I could ever give. Leaving, I thought okay the waitress was stupid and forgetful but the cashier could have approached her or someone else to hand over the change and not just leave it lying there!
If only the food were not good, I'd say our experience in Bigby's Davao was horrible. I think the staff, including that lady manager or supervisor who was only good in eavesdropping, should go on intense training in accordance to their respective position 'cause they all sucked. Although the food was that good, it wasn't enough for us to be tempted to come back. I guess it is because when we celebrate and dine in a quite fancy restaurant, we do so because we do not mind paying that much to experience the best food and best service that restaurant of this sort usually offer. Otherwise, we'd just rather go to a carendiria where food isn't really that bad and service is fair.
Today was crazy hell in Davao City. Being here for more than 6 years, I've seen and heard of transport strikes but was not affected much as those previous strikes were not participated fully by some drivers/operators and there were still some jeepneys/cabs taking passengers. But today was incredible. A staggering 85% of Davao City transport has been paralyzed as more than 1,000 driver and operator members of United Maa Operators and Drivers Association (Umoda) participated in the rally.
