Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Fatima Restaurant: A Weird Experience

Lazy Ass and I met again a few days ago and this time it was proved to me and his lazy ass that being lazy is not good! I mean he's a nice boy and everything but he, now, has to pay. He's kicked out of his place that his dad has provided to him rent-free and he's really upset. It's not all his fault. It's his father's faults too but what does it matter now? He's out! The good thing is he's allowed to stay at his mom's for a few months, rent-free until he finds a place. 
After his normal complaints about his dad(!) which was more bitter this time(!) we decided to get a bite and he chose to go to Fatima Restaurant, a Pakistani place in, of course, northeastern part of the city. So here we are and the place is, as dirty, filthy, disorganized and dark as I expected! There're booths with chairs putting on the top upside down(!) and tables with pile of dirty dishes on the top! There's only one table occupied but according to Lazy Ass the food is good. So we were about to see. The good thing is service is prompt. As soon as we arrive a tiny East Indian girl approaches us with a couple of menus although I found one on the seat! Looked liked someone didn't like the list and threw it there! I ordered Chicken Curry and Lazy Ass ordered two items that we intended to share all together and split the bill. It looked like that our visit would be not so bad. Then a sign on the opposite wall caught my eyes: Prayer Room! I had never seen such a thing anywhere in the world! I know for a fact that Pakistani people are amongst the most restricted Muslims but you don't have to be so pretentious! If someone prays 7 times a day then he or she makes sure they pray either before or after their meal! There's absolutely no need to go to a restaurant and yell: Oh Allah! I forgot to pray today! Where's the mosque? Where's the prayer room. So it's abnormal and weird but considering I was in a Pakistani restaurant, I understand that. I lived half of my life in a Muslim country and never saw such a thing, not to mention the use of a religiously debatable name (Fatima) for the restaurant! 
So we were waiting and the waitress brought plates, water and other stuff and here comes a group of load fellas who Lazy Ass told me later that they were speaking Bengali. The guy was welcomed by the waitress who happened to be there when they came in and one of them started ordering while walking to a table!! There was another weird thing that I saw in the restaurant but it didn't end there. The food arrived and I noticed that instead of Chicken Curry they have brought me Mutton Curry, it looked like it was or something like that! How could you mess up such a small order?! I mean we were not a group of 8 or 9 with each of us ordering a different meal! So the girl came and took the food and we waited a little while. This time the chef came himself! Again weird! He was dark-skinned short fella with a big belly, wearing a filthy apron and a mask (as a protection from Coronavirus!) and short-sleeved T-shirt which showed a tattoo of him! Lazy Ass had a little chat with him and thanked him. It appeared it was chicken this time! 
The food was not bad but too oily and who knows what type of oil these guys uses but I guess it's okay for one try. The food cost us $16.8 each which was not bad but I could eat twice as much because I had not had lunch. We decided to have dessert somewhere else instead of ordering more especially because he was not very hungry. Would I go there again? I highly doubt it. Unless I'm desperate for East Indian food and there's no other place available. I would rate the restaurant 3 out of 5 and that's because their food is tasty but hygiene and atmosphere sucks big time and even could kill your appetite! Just when we were paying and getting ready to leave there were more customers which is good but a guy of the Bengali group was talking loudly on his phone and it was very rude, disrespectful to the others and annoying!
(Photo: A sign on the wall, a turned-off flat screen TV on the top of it, and a filthy table with a pile of dirty dishes, which sat there for another 15 minutes by the way, these are really not appetizing signs of a restaurant. Are they?!)

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