Sacred Spice at Stratford 8th August 2008

Rod's choice
Present: Gerry, Alex, Ken, Irene, Rod, Louanne
Overall Rating: 3.45*
Total Cost per person: $62.50

Ratings scale: Excellent; Very Good; Good; Not so Good; Poor; Abysmal

Greeting and Seating: Very Good.
Table Presentation: Good
Settling in - drinks, breads etc.: Very Good
Menu selection, variety price etc.: Very Good - limited to menu. Could do a nightly special.
Specials presentation: none
Wine selection, variety and price: Not so good - not a good selection.
Drinks Service: Poor
Food Service: Poor
Ambiance: Good: minimalist restaurant with appropriate decor for a "spice" restaurant.

Food choices
Entree: Two red hot chili squid; Two oysters, a flamed prawns; and lemongrass Cha Bo. All rated excellent.
Main course: Sour fish rated excellent; Lamb shanks rated excellent, Cardamon chicken rated good; Saffron seafood soup rated not so good; West Indies spiced goat rated good; Am Char fish Very good although the salad was drowned.
Sweets: Fig and almond Semi Fredo; Marsala dates; chocolate tart; flaming bananas all rated excellent.
Drinks: Red and white choices extremely limited and several choice on the menu not available.
Summary: Overall disappointing as a "spice" restaurant. Meals, particularly the seafood soup were bland and quality of the main courses did not match the quality of the entrees and sweets. Service was extremely poor and the only evidence of professional training was in the Maitre de. the one waitress had no training and obviously little restaurant experience. Given the number of patrons, service should have been much better.