Wake Up Pizza Fusion!! And Smell the Burnt Crust! (Jeddah)

Its always disappointing to watch a restaurant's quality decline, especially when its one you really enjoyed. This is a grim story that exists too much in Saudi Arabia. An amazing restaurant opens, and is extremely successful for the first 6 months to a year, give or take, and then it begins: loss of original staff, over-pinching of pennies on the good stuff that drew us there in the first place, and over all decline in quality of food, service, and eventually experience.

Today Pizza Fusion is in the spotlight. At a little over 2 years old in the kingdom, the organic pizza parlor was doing outstanding, until a recent visit that is. While placing the order, everything seemed fine. Then came to ordering drinks. Their Cain soda selection was always of preference, which was exactly what they were out of. Not only one or two flavors, but all of them. They were also out of the bottled Root Beer they usually carried. When I  asked if will they be available soon,  I was told that management will likely not be ordering them again.

As dismayed as I was about that, I let it go. But wait!!! The pizza I ordered that evening wasn't as good as it usually was either!! The sun-dried tomatoes were sun "burnt" tomatoes, and both pizzas that I ordered were over cooked!

This is not being blogged because it was such a horrifying experience and meant to degrade Pizza Fusion so that no one ever visits them again. This blog is intended as a wake up call for management to get back on their tip toes and keep an eye out for what draws and retains customers. Sometimes, its the simple, little things that really matter.

TYPICAL SAUDI TIMING: 

Raquet Shop (Tahlia Street, Jeddah)

So !!  Apparently its alright to falsely advertise when it comes to Raquet Shop on Tahlia Street

Browsing through on Friday evening, looking for a decent pair of inline skates. I found a measly two pairs on display, but better than nothing. One was 1200sr, discounted to 870sr,  and the other was close to 900sr, discounted to 705sr. After spending around half an hour trying on both pairs, my heart finally settled on the the black & white pair for 705sr. During trying on, the sales person had confirmed the price of 705sr several times during the half an hour spent.

Check out time arrived, everything was great up to this point. As I approached the cashier to pay, the sales employee informs me the sale price was wrong. There wasn't actually a sale at all! The sale ended Jan 1st 2012, and today was Feb 10th !!! That's outrageous considering it was a whole 40 days after the sale ended, that the item was still tagged with a 2 inch by 4 inch bright red tag as well as half the other items in the store!

Needless to say, I did not purchase the inline skates. Not because 200sr was that much more, but i felt deceived. 40 days old sale tags !!!

They will be getting another visit very soon, to check if they removed their many items on "sale" or if this is a deceptive scam.

 

Sbarro (Khalidiyah, Jeddah)

Arriving at Sbarro's at 4:30 pm, it was found empty. I  called out 'hello' a few times, until an employee responded. He then informed me that there was "a problem." Not knowing how to reply, I proceeded to place my order.

Upon ordering, I noticed an interesting sign advertising "Saute Pasta: Have it your way" an offer for freshly made pasta however one may choose, and a salad of my choice for 25sr.  It sounded good, but when I asked about it the staff informed me that they were not offering it as yet, and didn't know when they would. Apparently the ad was installed there a few weeks ago. I pressed the matter saying 'Usually if something is advertised, you have to allow a customer to order it! ' My comment was not received well, greeted with an unamused stare from the employee that seemed somewhat angry.

As I proceeded to pay for the pasta I ordered,  I inquired about any combo meals available. The employee replied that there was none on offer. However, looking down on their menu, I noticed the whole cover page listing 3 options of combo meals. Asking about this, the employee told me "No, those are old, we don't offer them anymore." WOW ! Quite annoyed by the careless unprofessional attitude,  I asked to speak to a manager about the apparent false advertisement going on. I was told no managers were on duty at the time. Unbelievable.

After an unsatisfactory experience, Sbarro won't likely be getting another visit from this consumer.