“I’ll have the fish and chips please” .. yum yum!

It was our first time eating at this busy restaurant that we had heard a lot about including the multiple awards it had received in recent years.

The Fish and hand cut Chips with mushy peas caught my attention – I fancied that with a pint of Murphy’s.

In the meantime we ordered some starters and chatted.

The fish and chips arrived, nicely presented with a slice of lemon, tartar sauce and a mini bowl of frozen peas.

Had I read the menu wrong? …I didn’t think so, it was mushy peas – for me fish and chips just isn’t the same without mushy peas

I tucked into the meal and it just wasn’t quite the same with the frozen peas – I took one mouthful and just left them behind. Not the same ..

“Is everything ok with everyone’s meal?” the waitress asked.

“Yes thanks” I didn’t want to be a crank about the peas so I said nothing and besides on a night out when you want to relax the last thing I wanted to do was complain.

At the end of the meal our plates were cleared and in my case a mini bowl full of frozen peas were returned, pretty much the way they had arrived – I wondered had anyone wondered why.

At some point someone in the restaurant decided it was easier or ok not to serve mushy peas  – after all, it’s not really too big a deal and the chances are no one complains so why not do it again the next night and the next night and so on?

And besides, if people weren’t happy wouldn’t they complain..wouldn’t they?

For me instead of being the award winning restaurant it’s the place that tells me I am getting mushy peas but serves me something else – I won’t complain but I probably won’t be back.

At times do we all serve something that’s not quite what we described on our menu? 

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin