March 23, 2013 Metn Mount Lebanon Lebanon Middle East

The Jasmine Doom (Restaurant Closed)

RATING:24/100

Welcoming: 1/5

Food Temperature: 2/10

Ambiance / Music: 5/10

Menu Choice: 4/5

Food Taste: 3/30

Architecture / Interior: 5/10

Food presentation: 3/10

Service: 1/10

Value for money: Soon

Every Saturday, my wife and I receive a couple of friends for dinner to watch the famous The Voice, an interesting musical program broadcasted on TF1. Every week is a new experience, every week is a new delivery. Last week was a sushi order from SAI for 5 persons that cost us only 100$. Would Chinese cost more than Japanese?

Searching among menus, I stumbled upon the Jasmine Room. The Jasmine Room is an Asian restaurant offering Chinese and Japanese specialities. They have been known for the last couple of years as the reference in the Metn region. I have already visited this restaurant several times and would have loved to do so again until tonight's screw-up.

Jasmine_Room_Delivery1

The menu we had at home for some time now - maybe a year or so - featured reasonable prices...

We Ordered:

  • 2 Vegetable Spring Rolls
  • Duck spring rolls
  • Salt and pepper squid
  • Sesame prawn toast
  • Sweet chilli mango salad
  • Crispy aromatic duck
  • Vegetable noodles
  • Beef in black bean sauce
  • Szechwan chicken
  • Chicken and cashew nuts
  • Prawns and Mango
  • 2 Steamed rice

Jasmine_Room_Delivery2

This order, and according to the menu I had in my hands is for a reasonable price of 144,000L.L. That's 35,000L.L/person since we were four having dinner. The prices of the new menu were shocking an increase of 69%. Yes, 69%: That's 100,000L.L more. We received a bill of 245,000L.L. And even though the price was that high, they charged us 5,000L.L as a delivery charge.

Jasmine_Room_Delivery7

The Prices Comparison:

  • 2 Vegetable Spring Rolls/piece : 2,100/2,800
  • Duck spring rolls/piece : 2,500/4,000
  • Salt and pepper squid : 7750/15,000
  • Sesame prawn toast : 7,250/12,000
  • Sweet chilli mango salad : 10,500/16,000
  • Crispy aromatic duck : 24,000/38,000
  • Vegetable noodles : 10,500/16,500
  • Beef in black bean sauce : 13,250/22,500
  • Szechwan chicken : 11,500/17,500
  • Chicken and cashew nuts : 12,500/24,000
  • Prawns and Mango : 21,000/32,000
  • 2 Steamed rice : 3,250/6,000

Jasmine_Room_Delivery6

The delivery sequence:

  1. We called at 20h40
  2. The operator needs some training, greeted us with "Bonjour" and lacks professionalism
  3. The phone order took more than 15 minutes. 21h55 the order was completed
  4. We received the food bags at 22h00. The most horrible delivery experience begun...
  5. The bags were soaked in sauce. It leaked all over the house.  Thank God we didn't have to order soup
  6. The paper boxes were all soaked and non appetizing
  7. We discovered that the portions are pathetically small for the charged price
  8. Our pale hungry faces turned blue as the food was freezing cold
  9. An unpleasant and dramatic experience, I wish for no one to live

Jasmine_Room_Delivery5

The unacceptable minuses:

  • The portions are extremely small
  • The prices are extremely high
  • The food presentation is disgusting. How about you think of some waterproof boxes
  • We ate cold tasteless Chinese
  • Please remove the spring rolls from your delivery menu: They look more like spoilt bananas

The pluses:

  • NONE

Jasmine_Room_Delivery8

Conclusion: The Jasmine Room has become too expensive and surely inappropriate for delivery. We were all shocked tonight and raided the fridge looking for left overs to fill our empty stomachs. A previous positive experience that was just erased in seconds.




PREVIOUS ARTICLE

Arabnet's Taste of Beirut 2013: One Country, International Flavors - Under One Roof

NEXT ARTICLE

Let's Enjoy Blueberry Square but Let's Not Burger (Restaurant Closed)