“CHINESE WITH SEVERE ATTITUDE”
Well, due to popular demand from my fans – all three of you, I am back on the restaurant trail once again. Remember the old adage, “If you can’t say something good……”? Well, there are just times when I just cannot be that generous in my comments, and this, unfortunately is one of them. RESTAURANTE FORTUNA is a Chinese food restaurant of some standing for a number of years in Quito. Located on Penser, the establishment has a number of very positive elements. It is beautifully appointed, both outside and in, with very lovely pieces of Chinese art, the center piece of which is a glass-enclosed gold reliquary that contains the cremains of the original matron of the family. This is a truly stunning piece and very worthy of a place of honor and spotlight. The rest of the restaurant is spacious and very well lit…..perhaps just a tad bit too well lit…they could drop the wattage just a tich. The all-male wait staff is nicely turned out in black and white vest, pants, and shirts…..very nice eye-candy.
The menu is quite extensive, and I am forced to add that the food here is very, very good. They have a very good wonton soup, but I do wish there was also an egg drop soup to go with it. The large fried wontons before dinner are wonderful and a good accompaniment to a pre-dinner cocktail…….and, therein lies the beginning of the negative side of things.
Just to be absolutely clear about things, we have visited this restaurant on at least four different occasions, and found all of the negative factors consistently bad. Service in Ecuador, as we have discovered, leaves a great deal to be desired, even at some of the higher end establishments, however, the service at La Fortuna has been consistently bad, arrogant, and actually confrontational. The wait staff, although attractive, just do not listen to their guests……god only knows where their minds are wondering, but it is consistent with the whole staff. One characteristic of quite a few restaurants in Ecuador is that they will list quite an extensive array of aperitifs, however, when one orders from the list, we find that they, in fact, do not stock any of them……..I guess is just looks good on the menu. My litmus test has become Campari (nothing better than a nice Campari and soda before dinner). I have become quite accustomed to being informed that they do not stock Campari. However, on our most recent, and I add absolutely last, visit to Fortuna, where I have never tried my test before, I deliberately pointed directly at the entry for Campari and requested my aperitif. The server, without comment, dutifully recorded my request. Sometime after the poo-poo platter and fried wontons, I asked the server what had happened to my drink…….this is when he informed me that the restaurant does not stock the item. When I asked why I was not informed of this fact when I originally ordered the Campari, he looked directly at me and said that I had not ordered the drink. Everyone at our table had heard the order placed, however the server adamantly maintained that the order had never been placed. We have even learned to overcome the language differences by deliberately pointing directly at the menu items we want to order, and yet, regular as clockwork, the orders eventually come to the table in no way resembling what we had ordered. My partner, Tony, is deathly allergic to any kind of shellfish, and we always are very emphatic that nothing is to contain any form of shellfish, and yet, without fail, there will be shrimp in his soup or rice or somewhere else. When asked to change the order, the staff becomes quite confrontational, saying that this is the way the items are served, and, basically a “take it or leave it” attitude. I have to re-emphasize that these events are not a onetime occurrence, but apparently the way almost all guests are treated. Which brings me to one final observation: Why do the Ecuadorians tolerate bad, and even belligerent, service in restaurants????? I fully realize that this is their country and “yes, Toto, we aren’t in Kansas anymore”, but the fact that the dining public is willing to tolerate such lack of service is one of those great mysteries that I guess I will never understand.
BOTTOM LINE: Stay as far away from this establishment as possible…..Quito is full of Chinese restaurants, and I am on the trail to find a good one.
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