Down with CHEZ MARIA!

Marrying different kinds of food in one place is often times a very hard task to achieve...

I believe that what makes a fusion place successful is not only the combination of food on their menus, but the coherence of their particular concept throughout that facility.

People visiting a fusion restaurant must be able to read that particular food concept from the minute they set foot on that place. They must see it on their décor, their ambiance and, needless to say, on their menu.

This is the case of CHEZ MARIA. They have a fantastic Mediterranean menu, which is truly representative of that region. But I personally think that they have failed at delivering this concept throughout their restaurant.

As soon as you enter CHEZ, you are hinted at the golden days of this place. Two bars, inside and outside dining, servers posted at the door to welcome the clients and mellow music.

Unfortunately, Chez Maria’s good 'ole days are gone and their brazen disregard is showing. Poor quality food, smelly napkins and tablecloths, plastic chairs, slow service, careless servers and disregarded clients.

My LAST meal there was a disaster. I was sitting at a big table with friends and we were not all served at the same time. I was really distraught at seeing that the place was almost empty and the servers were not efficient enough to take good care of ALL the guests… and there were quite a number of these SERVERS! This is clearly a management error and I would not want to imagine what would happen if the place were at least half full.

Although I think that their hummus is the best in town and that they are able to do better than my last experience, I prefer not to visit CHEZ MARIA again for a long time.

They need to have their place overhauled. We should not settle for less than better service and servers, better attention to detail and concept coherence all the way through.

So, my dear blog readers, when thinking to go to Chez Maria, think it twice. There are other options in Kingston where your dining experience will be far better.

Let CHEZ MARIA's people know that they have to take their business seriously or they will keep on losing clients.

Keep on eating ...and reporting!