1.009

14 (Thu) January 2010

Chicken Korma + Aloo Paneer + Garlic Naan

2.5

at Chakraa

-Hannam, Yongsan, Seoul, Korea-

with the Family

While the food at Chakraa isn’t bad, and the restaurant’s proximity to home is a plus, I was reminded tonight as to why I had stopped coming regularly to the place last year after several service-related gaffs.

A typical example of their ineptitude involved their “membership card,” which was free and could be used on the following visit to accumulate redeemable points and get a 10% discount on the bill. One problem I encountered was that, after I’d collected points for a few months, they told me that their computer had lost all the customer data, so I was forced to start all over. On a separate occasion, we had ordered a set meal and an additional curry a la carte, as well as drinks and some extra naan. At the register, I was denied the 10% discount because of the set meal, which they said wasn’t eligible for the discount. When I asked why they couldn’t charge me separately, they replied that it just wasn’t the way they did things.

Tonight was more of the same. When I presented a coupon for free naan that I’d clipped from their own menu, they initially refused to accept it because they said it was only good for deliveries, until I showed them the boldly written “GOOD FOR IN-DINING” at the bottom of the coupon. The food took over 30 minutes even though we were the only people in the place. And, I swear I’m not making this up, I had to apply for another membership card because their system had crashed again.

I’m not banning the place outright, but I’m hard pressed to imagine what it would take for me to go back.