So downstairs continued along its familiar path this week, with the roadworks still causing us great angst! I've calculated that we have lost approximately 2000€ so far, and there seems no sign that there is an end in sight... There was no work done on Friday at all. It's getting on my tits now!
A different story in the restaurant though. Another full house for the second Friday in succession. The only disappointment was having to turn people away, as we had no tables.
Saturday daytime in the cafe was a little better. I'm not sure why, as the situation outside means that we still have no chairs and tables, but a we had a fairly decent day. There were a couple of occasions where customers walked in and walked out again as there were no spare tables, so again, a little frustrating, but nothing we could do. The evening in the restaurant was a little better than last Saturday, but I still think that X Factor plays a big part in the lack of numbers!
Moving on to today. Another fully booked service for Sunday Lunch. I'm not sure why, but it gives me great satisfaction when we are full on Sunday. More so than on a Friday. I suppose that Friday is 'just Fish & Chips', whereas Sunday Lunch is a little more 'classy'. When done correctly of course! Also, for me personally, I know how much work goes into it. Sometimes, I am prepping 3 days in advance. Service also for me can be very difficult. Basically I am on my own in the kitchen, with Laura occasionally giving me a hand with the roast potatoes and gravy, but apart from that, I do everything else on myself. Imagine trying to serve 40ish people with a starter and a main course in approximately 2 hours. That's 40 plates of food in an hour! Its all about being prepared, and after 3 years of doing it every Sunday, I have a pretty good system!
Moving away from food for a moment, I must share with you all something that happened to us on Friday evening. We moved house about 2 months ago and we have been waiting for the return of our deposit (1000€) since then. Finally, while we sat waiting to go back to work for the evening service, our ex landlady popped over to explain that we owed her 76.95€! How could that be possible? She had 1000€ of our money. We had already been told by several people 'in the know', that you don't get deposits back from Spanish landlords, but we were hopeful of some sort of return. After deducting the outstanding water and electric bills, we would have been left with approximately 200€. That was until the cleaning bill of 320€. Cheeky buggers! She was trying to claim that 32 man hours were spent at 10€ an hour to clean the house! We had left it spotless... Oh well, just another one of those kick in the nuts you get when living the Spanish dream! Dream...it's more like a nightmare sometimes. After a few minutes thought, I decided to turn it to our advantage. If the going rate for cleaning a property was 10€ an hour, it was time to start a little sideline business in that industry! Guess what... 2 days later, (today), I secured our first cleaning 'contract'! One of our customers who alternates living in Spain to living in England was asking us if we knew any reputable property management companies. We mentioned that we were in the process of starting up our own service, and we were hired on the spot!. I am going round to their villa on Tuesday to give them a quote for a full management service, (key holding, regular cleaning etc)! the money is very much needed at the moment...
Changing the subject again, we received an awful review on TripAdvisor yesterday. It was a 'fake' review, I assume made by someone who doesn't like us very much. The whole review was complete fabrication, and at times was very personal. They accused us of having painted chip board, tatty menus ect. Then said that my food lacked seasoning and looked like it had been thrown on the plate with no care. It went on in that fashion. The reviewer had opened an account with TripAdvisor, purely to leave that review. They have never set foot in our restaurant. Unfortunately, although I have lodged a complaint with TripAdvisor, and left a reply to the review which the public can see, it will still push us a few notches down the rankings. Although we have more reviews and more 'excellent' reviews than any other restaurant in Calpe, the way they calculate the rankings is very strange, and therefore in a bout a week or so , when the system is updated, we may find ourselves down to about 5th or 6th. The thing that angers me about this, is that these people are allowed to get away with it, and 3 years of hard work are 'shat on', just because someone, (possibly a rival restaurant as has been the case in the past), has it in for you. I am the first to hold my hands up to a genuine review, where someone has a genuine gripe with their visit to us, but this just really angers me. It shouldn't be allowed to happen, but it is. Therefore, the reviewer wins, and we lose. C'est la vie, we just ave to keep doing what we do.
Before I go to bed, I must just say 'watch this space'. I may have some news for you tomorrow!
Nite nite
Jimbo
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