So, my Wife and I went to Noja on the 23rd. Yes, nice atmosphere and a nice easy walk from our hotel. Reservations were at 8pm, the dining room was full, by my observation it didn’t appear to be slammed. We placed our drink order and food order. The appetizer we spilt was a sous vide pork belly with a green onion salad, the waiter talked it up as a new addition to the seasonal menu rotation…we waited in anticipation. When the dish was brought, the internal temperature of the pork belly was ice cold. It was apparent the pork belly was pre-cooked (understandable with the sous vide preperation) and finished on a grill. My wife and I looked at each other and knew something was definitely wrong. I cut into the second of the three large pieces and it was also ice cold to the touch. We waited and waited, 15+ minutes before our waiter came back within in our generally vicinity in the dining room, at that point I was able to beckon his attention, to which he responded with, “You don’t like the pork belly?” The reason our waiter wasn’t available, i.e. attentive, was because he was behind the bar mixing drinks for the tables he was servicing? I’ve never seem this tactic in a restaurant striving to be in this echelon of eateries. When he approached the table, we informed him about the appetizer, asked him if it was normal for the wait staff to also play mixologist, to which he responded that it was commonplace and that, “they do everything.” How can that be a good model? The remaining, uneaten pieces of our initial pork belly dish were whisked away to the kitchen, sliced into thin pieces and reheated by the kitchen staff and then slopped onto the plate and brought back to the table. Now we had thrice cooked pork belly pieces that totally defeated the purpose of having taken the time to sous vide. What was lost was the expected, buttery texture that the dish should have had. The rest of the meal was tarnished, but we stick in for the long haul. The silver lining were the deserts, they were worth staying for.
Overall, the Management of the restaurant was highly un-concerned. A gentleman wearing a black chef smock and another dressed in casual clothes were wandering throughout and running food in the dining room and never bothered to acknowledge the mixup. I didn’t blame the waiter, he was caught in the middle between a probably poorly executed dish. The gentlemen in the chef smock made a cursory visit by our table about 3/4 through our visit to ask only me how my entree was, not acknowledging my wife. She had the better entree and could have given a better report. I hope they improve. ![[scratch.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/42a16863a8714da3c1604419e3eb9206bb87aa50.gif "scratch"){kind=small}