I am bored and so I decided to go into town and eat someplace I never been to before.
A Tony Roma’s sign caught my eye on the Corniche. I pulled it and walked in the door at 16.16. The place was empty so I took a seat. I kept an eye on the time, because I promised myself that after ten minutes I was going to steal some of the potted plants for my villa.
Darn it, at nine minutes, a manager showed up. I asked him why his restaurant smelled like an open latrine. He claimed it was the a/c system, but such a problem is more common when the plumbing is done wrong. Six automatic air freshener machines decorated the dining room. Perhaps a decorative urinal cake would have been useful to complete the aroma.
I ordered the boneless chicken wings. They were quite poor, so I decided to go home 32 riyals poorer.
The receipt invited me to tell them about my visit. So I went to the web site and entered store code 0678. Their computer did not recognize it. Their systems (computer and management) does not give a darn about overseas locations.
So I went to the contact us on the main web site. Same deal, no option to talk about overseas locations. So I picked a random location in California and wrote about my experience.
I imagine the people running Tony Roma’s are graduates of America’s finest business schools. Makes me want to learn Chinese. Idiots.
Wow, I haven’t been to a Tony Roma’s since the late eighties. It was fantastic. In the late eighties. Things may have changed a bit. You know, since the late eighties.
We’ve had some outstanding bad and good service at various Tony Roma’s here. The food is usually good, though, and comes out quickly. Damn, now you’ve got me craving a helping of riblings.
I’m sorry, Paul, but part of it is your own fault - you must know the cardinal rule of restaurants - go with their strength. Ordering chicken at a rib restaurant is just asking for trouble.
Chain restaurants are iffy at best even in the US. Why would you risk it in Saudi Arabia, especially when there must be more interesting options there?
You willingly spent ten minutes waiting to even be greeted by an employee in a restaurant that smelled like piss and you were then shocked when the food was bad?
Next time, let the urine reek be your cue to leave, idiot.
I would think that the fact that the restaurant was vacant and smelled like a urinal might have been a tip off that the food wouldn’t be all that good. But that’s just me.
I thought they had all closed and the company had gone out of business?? I know the two that were here in town closed up shop over a year ago. The last time I was in there, however, it was still pretty good. I seem to recall that the beef ribs were especially good.
A couple years ago I was in San Antonio and we ate at a Tony Roma’s for lunch. (It wasn’t my choice.) All I wanted was a barbecue beef sandwich. To my surprise, this barbecue place in the middle of freaking Texas didn’t have barbecue beef. I settled for this lameass barbecue chicken sandwich because I rarely eat pork. What a travesty this restaurant is.
What enrages me about this is someplace there is a million-dollar MBA who is unwilling to or incapable of maintaining standards. Hell, he got is money, so why should he care about the brand, the company, the workers or anything else? Sure it will all come crumbling down, but so what? He got his money.
Why should they pay almost nothing to have a web site that works? After all, everybody lives in the US and speaks English, just like Jesus did. Stupid cornpone eating mouth-breathing American businessman who is incapable of handling anything as complex as a restaurant chain, or perhaps an empty tuna fish can.
Freakin’ Americans. No wonder we can’t get anything done. No wonder the Chinese are going to rule the world. No pride, no ability, no desire to maintain a standard. Can these really be the same nation that did so much a century ago?
Idiots! They do not even give a damn. It serves them right to lose it all.
