The Feast Review

Feast not wanted as smokers, bugs, rude staff greet you at The Feast

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Driving down the McPhillips Street strip in Winnipeg, there are lots of choices for places to eat. If you aren't sure where to dine before you head down there, looking to the left and right sides of the street as you go gives you plenty of ideas. One choice half-way through the strip is The Feast, formerly the Rib Shack near Jefferson Ave. A friend and I continue driving as we both decide against eating at the restaurant, both having had bad experiences in the past. We are planning on heading to Boston Pizza towards the end of the strip, but make a U-turn as we reconsider dining at The Feast since we both hadn't been there in a long time and hope the restaurant has cleaned up its act since we were there last.

(Last time the server continued bringing plates and other tableware until there was finally no room to put anything else. She finally cleared the table after a complaint. There was also no staff to be found when needing refills for drinks and other assistance with our meals.)

Driving up I notice that the sign outside the restaurant has the word 'dinner' spelled incorrectly announcing they have a "Diner Feature." That can only mean good things are in store for us inside when the restaurant doesn't even know how to spell a meal they serve. We're off to a great start already.

Greeting us inside the building is a man smoking in the doorway. He is joined by two other men, one at the other entrance across from where we enter, and another standing between them, right in front of a No Smoking sign. Provincial law prohibits smoking indoors in public facilities. Realizing what I witnessed is illegal activity I mention it to the host at the front. The host acts surprised as though he had no idea what is going on, but he has a clear view of the gentlemen enjoying a puff inside the eatery. As he tells the men to "butt out" or go outside in a phoney attempt to get rid of them, my friend and I make our way into the restaurant as the employee quickly catches up with us to take us to our seats. I give him a disappointed look and his response is, "You'll live," as he continues to walk. Strike 2. (For the record, it was a balmy +1C outside at the time, so there was no reason to be inside smoking anyway.)

We are then sat at a table in the very back corner of the restaurant which is a rounded booth where the first person in would have to get everyone else to move so that they can swing around on the rounded cushion to get out for either washroom use or just to stretch his or her legs. It is a very crowded booth and two people dining together can't even face each other. They either have to sit beside each other or one person has to sit on an angle and somewhat look at their diner, um, dinner partner. It is also at this point that we notice bugs circling in the air and also the smell of something burning. (Our server later asked us if we had smelled it too.)

The server arrives and gives us the menu and tells us the dinner specials. She advises against the featured pasta as "it tastes like Hamburger Helper" and she "tried it earlier and doesn't like it." I order the chicken breast with vegetables and fries. (Remember what I ordered... it's important in a few seconds.) My guest orders the spaghetti, the "cheaper, larger portion" meal, as it's described to us.

The restaurant isn't overly busy, but the two female servers are noticeably overworked as they hurry around the dining room tending to their guests. The meals take a very long time to arrive but when they do, they look very appetizing.

The plate I receive looks really good. However, it isn't what I ordered. It is no surprise to me, since we are already having such great luck, that my meal would be incorrect. I look down at the plate and before I even look up the server is already gone, almost running to check on her other tables. The plate I get has ribs, vegetables, and roasted potatoes (which we were told the restaurant was out of) on it. I decide to go on a mission to fix the problem. I walk briskly through the dining room looking for help. There are no servers in the dining room. No staff in the lounge. I walk into the food prep area just off the kitchen and notice there are stacks of dirty plates and garbage everywhere, but not a human to be found. (Maybe they are all up front catching a smoke in the lobby with the other gentlemen.) I peek through the little window into the kitchen and see no staff either. Finally when exiting the area a bartender comes, not even acknowledging that I am in a staff area, so I ask him for assistance. I ask for the manager and he says it's the heavy-set man at the front who sat us. There is no way I am going to talk to him, so I simply walk through the dining room calling for help as I wander back to our table.

Moments later the server rushes over and asks "What's the problem?" She is polite about it but it comes off as being inconveniencing to her. I tell her that I didn't order ribs and her response is, "I beg your pardon, no you did not. I apologize. I'll be right back." About 10 minutes later I receive a new plate with chicken on it. This time there is coleslaw (which I specifically said I didn't want, I wanted vegetables instead- the first plate had that correct). And again, instead of french fries, there are roasted potatoes on it. I don't mention this to her as we don't have time to play plate-swapping games all night. The server comes back to apologize and offers each of us a free drink from the bar and says we are entitled to complimentary dessert after the meal. My stomach has already lost its appetite from the experience thus far and I decline the dessert but absolutely jump on the offer of free liquor.

So overall the dining experience was interesting, to say the least. The spaghetti and chicken meals were cheap at $7.95 and $8.95 respectively. But you sure can't put a price on the quality service at The Farce, er, The Feast. Perhaps the first red flag would have been a restaurant that can't even spell a meal of the day correctly. However, they did get one thing right. The atmosphere is much like a diner- Mel's Diner, where you inhale a cloud of smoke as you enter, the staff tells off customers, and bugs circle above you as you eat.

INSTANT UPDATE

The restaurant manager felt so bad about this awful experience that he “begged” JB not “to ruin him” by publishing this story. JB agreed that the review would not be published in the newspaper. The manager said he would “make it up to” JB by having him dine at the restaurant as his guest. JB waited for the phone call to set up a meeting but it never happened. As for the sign outside, it was changed about a week after the restaurant received this story.