I visited Cacaja recently with friends and was horrified by what we found. It starts small and ends with the worst finding ever in a dish.
Firstly we received the wrong soups. Being vegetarians we were very disappointed and sent back the soups - which seemed to make the manager/ boss ( middle aged Indian guy) irritated, an unlikely situation considering the mistake was not ours. Secondly, our mains were not hot. Obviously they had been re-heated from the refrigerator, as a Chef I am aware of the log book process and the risks of under-heating food that has been cooled, when we asked for our food to be checked by the boss he looked at us as if we were scumbags. Naturally we were a bit upset at his reaction. Now the real offense. When our food returned, a pin ( as in what is used when sewing) was discovered in one of our mains. We alerted the boss, who approached our table with a long roll of his eyes and a sarcastic sigh. We showed him the pin he hardly reacted at all, we think it didn't surprise him at all.
when no one returned to explain or apologise we left. When we walked past the boss, he ignored us. We waited beside him for an apology, none came.
1. wrong soup 2. potentially poisonous mains 3. metal sewing pin in the main.
the wrong soup was a small mistake. the other two offenses could have caused immense damage to a human.
appalling. BE WARNED
Try Indian Kitchen instead.....
I stopped going to Cacaja after I noticed the portions were magically shrinking with each visit.
cacaja came to kunming after already having opened branches in xi'an and chengdu. i'd have to say that this forum thread has confirmed my feeling that they've adapted their business model to the marketplace perfectly :P
I wonder if there is a slight relationship between this post and the Best Restaurant poll?
Bernie, this post has a direct relationship to the pin we found in our main. you comment is somewhat perplexing. one thing has nothing to do with the other.
there was a pin in our under-heated main and the boss treated us like we were low lives.
( thanks Piers, I'll try that, )
I have eaten at Cacaja's several times and while there have been some issues with prompt service and portions I do not know if I can agree with labeling the place and staff as dangerous. I know the manager, not personally, and have found him to helpful and kind in every instance. I have never once been treated like a low life. I am not sure what all the circumstances here are and the matter with the pin is certainly a problem, but it is problem that can happen anywhere and not only Cacaja's. For example I prefer the Indian food at Indian Kitchen more but on at least two occasions when my wife and I went there, after opening hours, we were told to come back because the cooks were not ready to cook anything yet. It is no reason to come into a forum and try to undermine the place. I would have to wonder about the way the patrons here conducted themselves and spoke to the staff and manager over the initial problems.
i had a green worm in my vegetable dish- a caterpillar? they said no worries, it's only a vegetable worm that likes to cling to brocolli. only reason i noticed it was because i was slowly picking away at that dish. the waitress talked to the manager, and the manager came over and apologized and compted my meal, but not my friend's who had the same platter. they also gave me free desert. the owner was there but didn't come over.
billandcourtney,
yes you're right to question whether this forum is the best place to air our concerns, but I cannot think of any other place or way to do so. The conduct of the patrons was not in question . We conducted ourselves as we always do and did not deserve any other the distasteful reactions of the boss. We were disappointed to find tepid mains, and horrified to discover the pin. His approach to us as the source of the problem and refusal to offer any apology are the points.
it should be mentioned somewhere. So this is where it's mentioned.
The listings section might be the place:
listings.gokunming.com/en/item/cac_130/
