Eat.Green.Lagos
Mint by Eat Green Company
33 Grace Anjous Drive, Lekki I, Lagos
FOLLY: Nosa checked out Eat Green during the week last week. He told me but I unlooked and pretended not to care. On Saturday, a group of us were looking for somewhere to grab lunch and Nosa decided we check this out.
I usually try not to be too demanding at restaurants so the owner will never notice us. So when my friend started making a fuss about her pineapple juice being too frothy and hot, as well as her complicated burger order, I began cringing internally.
NOSA: This whole thing wasn't the best experience. There were no waiters on the floor for the longest time after I walked in. Apparently, the other waiter stepped out to "buy something". We got there at 3:30 and the first thing we ordered didn't come till like 5:15.
To start, we got the calamari and some small chops platter thing that never came.
FOLLY: Hold that thought guys, I'll get to the small chops platter later. The calamari was actually quite good. I always like it when thin strips are lightly battered and fried as it makes it much easier to eat.
NOSA: The calamari was actually pretty decent and it's shame we never got to try the healthy small chops platter because the chef prepared the wrong dough.
FOLLY: Again, hold the thought on the small chops platter and I'll get to it in a minute. The owner kept coming to apologize about stuff: the pineapple juice, the orange juice and so at some point it got a bit much for me. There's a thin line between not giving a shit a la Casper & Gambini's and overcompensating.
NOSA: I wouldn't say she was "overcompensating" but the whole thing was just awkward. The whole thing was falling apart right in front of her and I felt a little bad. I wanted to apologize for ordering the small chops thing. It was that bad.
FOLLY: Yeah it got really awkward towards the end, so I just wanted to get the bill and go.
I asked for Orange Juice earlier when we first arrived but they didn't have it so I got water instead. The owner came out later to ask who ordered the orange juice as they now had it. I said I did but that I didn't want it anymore because it wasn't a big deal. A little bit later a waiter comes out with a glass of orange juice and as he's about to place it down, I tell him I didn't order it but the owner is behind him and quickly says it's complementary. At this point, I felt like it was being shoved down my throat so I say thank you and accept the juice.
NOSA: I got the BBQ Bacon Burger as my main and I thought it was pretty good.
NOSA: I mean, I couldn't taste any BBQ in it and the bun wasn't a wheat bun like the waitress said. That aside, I thought it was a pretty decent burger. Top 10 in Lagos, maybe.
FOLLY: I got the Barbecue Chicken and Chips but it still had not arrived at this point so we can talk about the small chops platter now. As we were paying and getting ready to leave the owner came to explain that the small chops platter never arrived because the chef had used white flour as opposed to wheat flour, and so she 'couldn't serve it'. I think what would have been helpful was at the point when she realized the mistake, she should have come to notify us. I mean, just about 20 minutes prior she had informed us that the small chops platter would be out in 10 minutes as the dough for the puff puff was still rising as 'everything is made fresh'.
NOSA: Yeah, this dough thing didn't make sense to me. I mean, it says "wheat puff puff" on the menu so why is the chef making dough for regular puff puff. Is that a special order or something?
FOLLY: Something about this missing order didn't make sense to me.
My order arrived eventually but everyone was done eating so I asked for it to be packed to-go. I also had already scavenged everyone's fries so I wasn't starving anymore. My cousin liked her burger, but my friend didn't eat hers because as predicted by my cousin and Nosa, Peace, the waitress, made a mistake.
Now, this is partly both my friend's and Peace's fault. Peace didn't write stuff down AND my friend was clearly doing the most and asking a lot of a waitress who was clearly just finding her feet. I remember we asked Peace if she wouldn't mind getting a notebook so she wouldn't miss anything as we were a large group.
NOSA: LOL @ the waitress because we told her to write it down and she was like "nah, I got this".
FOLLY: I took my lunch to go and eventually had it for dinner. The chicken wasn't really cooked through and salmonella isn't cute. However, the part that was well cooked tasted nice, and the sweet potato fries were almost perfect.
POSTSCRIPT
NOSA: The food took too long, the waiters were terrible, and they messed a couple of orders up. Eat Green definitely has potential because the concept alone stands out. The menu could be streamlined a bit to avoid all the "we don't have it now" talk, however.
I'll give them another shot in a month or so. Hopefully, it's better.
FOLLY: Ehh, I really don't know as I've casted myself to the owner now, if I ever go back it'll just be awkward. Takeout maybe?
VERDICT
DAMAGE
BBQ Chicken - N3500
BBQ Bacon Burger - N3200