On one Sunday morning after church, my father and I decided to go to Eko Hotel for their buffet breakfast. Upon entering the restaurant, there is a lady sitting behind a table and a cash register, waiting to jack you up for money before getting seated.

When I asked why this procedure, her response was people tend to walk out without paying for their food and at the moment, her eyes were on a table that hasn’t paid yet. Right there is problem “numero uno.” We aren’t dining at a local joint where one may expect all calibers of people to walk in so one may be weary of some people not paying or may not be adequately staffed; reason this particular procedure is implemented. We are at a restaurant of what we know is a 5 star hotel in Lagos (even though there really aren’t 5 star or even 4 star standards in Nigeria). If an establishment has issues with people walking out without paying, then there is a problem with staff training. A number of waiters should be responsible for manning a certain number of tables and collecting the check from those tables during their shift.

After paying 9,000 Naira for 2pax, the cashier instructed us to find a table. Really? For a hotel being a 4 star, I would think we would be escorted by a waiter or hostess to an available table. My father and I walked around looking for an available seat while two waiters just stood there staring at us like we had something stuck on our faces. My father had to call a waitress out to ask if she didn’t see us walk around looking for a seat. She then proceeded to seat us at a table which was clearly taken by someone else because there were two cell phones on it and the table wasn’t set. We eventually got a clean and set table to sit on. While being seated, my father asked if they only attended to white people because it truly seemed that was what was going on. The waiter denied it by saying “Oh No, Sir”. Even with his answer, it sure didn’t seem like it. We were FINALLY seated and ordered for our coffee/tea. We then proceeded to the buffet area. To my continuous disappointment, the food was all picked over with no one replenishing. I put on my plate what looked safe to eat. Even what I put on my plate was a bad choice. The food was tasteless, the pastries all tasted like detergent. The staff walking around looked unkempt and tacky. You couldn’t really differentiate the manager from the waiter and the waiter from the busser. It looked as if they were running a “local buka” (maybe I’m exaggerating just a tad bit but they weren’t running 4 star service) with a bunch of nonprofessionals. What I don’t understand is what is the Food and Beverage Manager doing? Do they not have a standard? Is anyone not training their staff? What I know is, the Executive Chef needs to find out what is going in his kitchen and the F&B Manager needs to find out what seems to be the problem in the front of house.

It definitely wasn’t a way to spend a Sunday morning after church. If you don’t mind wasting 9,000 Naira, you may proceed to go and do not collect 200 Naira! BUT please don’t forget to come back here and tell me all about your experience. They may have improved. If they haven’t, maybe they need to call me ;). I’ll teach them a lil something on finesse in the hospitality industry.