just returned from our usual two weeks in June and can highly recommend Cafe Soul, Sekuls 1 and 2, Meeting Point and Bambu. The same cannot be said of EFTALYA, where the Orient Express used to be.
After finishing the starters we waited for over fifty minutes for the mains; our looks towards the kitchen after half-an-hour prompted a visit from the puller-in(cap on backwards) who assured us that "my chef is making something very special it will be here soon". Twenty minutes later the meals arrived, two lots of lamb cutlets, one chicken dish and a curry. For a start the vegetables(runner beans & carrots were hardly warmed through let alone cooked; The chicken had dried out and was crisp around the edges (probably from waiting for the cutlets), and the cutlets themselves were the worst we've ever been served in Calis; the majority of the 'meat' was gristle and one of the cutlets comprised solely of bone.
Needless to say when the waiter came over to find only the curry dish finished he looked a little shocked. I politely told him the the food was unacceptable and what was wrong. Off he went to the boss and after a little conflab the bill was presented in full. Not one member of staff even offered an apology. We paid(no tip) & left and on the way out i told the puller-in that he made promises that his chef couldn't keep. A couple of nights later puller-in professed not to remember there being any problems when i refused his invite for another meal.
All in all the very worst example of food preparation/cooking, service and customer care we've had; as regards the cutlets, just poor(cheap) from the outset. Good to see though that there are still plenty of other restaurants who have decent(and i stress decent) standards in Calis.
EFTALYA - One to avoid
