Saturday, July 19, 2014
Began the process to enable two-step verification for one of my Apple IDs. Breakfast: half order of oatmeal with fresh, diced peach and milk. Weight training: door pullups. Shower. We first tried UberX to get to Japantown but it was experiencing 2.0x surge pricing, so we used Sidecar instead. Attended a ramen festival called Ramen Street with Patrick. Was supposed to meet with Emery, Ray, Sebastien, and Steven, but it was too crowded and the lines were poorly organized and way too long. Another event called the J-POP Summit Festival was taking place simultaneously in the same area. We gave up after only a few minutes because it was obvious that we were going to wait in line for at least an hour for a really small bowl. I felt that the planners didn't organize very well. There was no website for the event; only a Facebook page with a poster. The Facebook event had the wrong start time—11 PM instead of 11 AM. There was no map online to the different vendors, ATMs, restrooms. 8 ramen vendors seemingly all in a row meant that everyone wanting to get in line had to crowd into a really small space. There was no way to determine where the end of each line was or for which vendor you might be in line for. We saw only a mass of people with parts of lines here and there. Our backup plan to eat indoors at Japan Center Mall failed; hundreds of others had the same idea at least 20 minutes before we got there. We tried to find food options inside Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, but the doors didn't open until 12:15 PM, and we didn't want to wait 40 minutes. We saw that Dosa (415-441-3672, 1700 Fillmore at Post) was open with empty tables, so we entered and were seated immediately. A staffperson brought us water within a few minutes, and then we waited perhaps 15 more minutes before anyone else even acknowledged us. We almost walked out but instead we placed our order: for Patrick vegetarian thali and a sweet lassi, for me paper masala mini dosa with mung bean and tofu salad and a hot chai. The service was unacceptable in many ways. Deliverators consistently placed dishes incorrectly with regard to who ordered what and sometimes failed to announce what the delivered item was. I immediately turned to ask one a question but found that she had already turned and walked away. My cup of chai was empty for large portions of my meal. I liked the decor very much, but while in the men's restroom I noticed a light fixture that had not been dusted in years—so embarrassing. The timing of my meal was unacceptable. There was a long delay after I had finished my salad; I waited perhaps 12 minutes before asking a server about it. He immediately said it would be out in 2 or 3 minutes. After 5 more minutes we inquired again and the waiter became defensive and accused us of rudeness when we were politely expressing our frustration at the clearly poor service. My dosa emerged a few minutes later. I enjoyed the quality of the food and had no issues with it. Patrick found his meal to be unevenly satisfying in various ways. At the end of the meal the same server returned and apologized, including the excuse that they had not expected the Ramen Street crowds, and I felt he was sincere in his apology. When the check arrived he said the drinks were on him. He redeemed himself and earned back his tip, but we will likely never eat at Dosa again. If the manager or kitchen knew early on that there would be a staffing or production problem, I would much rather have been refused at the door than to have had the experience I did. After eating, we returned to Sundance Kabuki and watched Chef (2014) which we both very much enjoyed ($11.25 each). UberX home. Vacuumed. Uploaded photos to Flickr. Dinner at home with Patrick: butter leaf lettuce and caprese salad, hot water. Finished watching The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on Netflix DVD with Patrick. We both enjoyed it.