On a recent, rare trip to the mall (Roosevelt Field in Long Island), BF suddenly exclaimed, “I’m hungry!” and led me to the food court. “Want tacos?”
Yes, he meant Taco Bell, and while I’m not in the habit of eating fast food, I do occasionally indulge. Feeling recently a bit heavy and falling far from good eating habits, I suggested we go somewhere for real food. He responded, “Oh, we can go to that Italian place! It’s not great but it’s fine, and it’s real food.” He led me past the food court, to the end of the mall, next to the Apple Store.
The place was completely empty, save for one table, but I chalked it up to the time – it was pretty late on a Sunday and the mall was set to close very soon. No big deal. Sometimes that’s nice; it means faster service, right? BF had been here before and said it was fine, so I eased away any doubts and just sat down. Luckily, they had a section on the menu called “The Lighter Side” which, to my delight, had exactly what I wanted without knowing I’d wanted it.
We started with an order of baked clams. BF found these fine, but I only ate two as the fishiness was overwhelming and cringeworthy. This is odd because he hates fishiness – it’s why he’ll tell you he doesn’t eat seafood – but I was all “No these are terrible,” while he scarfed the rest down and said they were alright. Old clams. Yuck.
BF opted for pasta al forno, telling the waiter, “It’s just baked ziti, right?” Hey, it was ziti with ricotta, baked with mozzarella on top. It tasted pretty good, you know, like something I’d make at home. (Well, my sauce is much better – theirs was a touch on the sweet side, but still fine.) It was a huge portion and he didn’t wind up finishing it.
I’d been really happy to find a simple platter of grilled veggies on the menu. Grilled endive, eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, and portobello mushrooms. When the waiter placed this in front of me, I was a bit amused at how much stuff there was, but then annoyed at the distinct lack of portobellos. There was a little bit sliced in and sauteed in there, but one or two whole caps would have been really nice to round out the plate. I took one bite of zucchini and was happily munching away when it happened.
I glanced up to look at BF and noticed he was staring past me. This isn’t unusual; the bar was behind me and probably a TV on somewhere – but he was looking down. So I turned my head and not more than 2 feet (actually, it was less than that) sat a teeny.tiny.little.furry.gray.MOUSE. about two inches long.
What.the.f*ck?!
This ‘cafe’ is in a mall. Why here? Why out in the broad daylight? GO AWAY!!!
He stayed there for a few moments but ran away when I tried to snap his picture. (My camera has a red light that comes on when you press the shutter button.)
But. He ran under the tables. He ran around the tables. He came back a little bit later and he just walked around.
The capper to this? Someone who worked there clearly had children there, who were just hanging out I guess waiting for their family member to get off work, and they ran into the dining room and stared at the mouse, watching him walk around and stuff. The staff didn’t even look at us, didn’t come up to us to apologize or say anything, or whatever. They just studiously ignored us. (Oh, by the way, the service wasn’t better, it took a little bit for me to get my water refilled.)
And here is where you will all be angry at me:
I didn’t say anything.
BF hates ‘causing a fuss’ or ‘making a scene’ anywhere. It’s one of his bigggggg pet peeves; I’m not sure exactly because I haven’t delved down that rabbit hole often (I am not so much a ‘screaming in public’ kind of gal). I just know that he looked at me, continued eating, and said, “Don’t say anything.” I complied.
I did, however, stop eating.
I feel comfortable in the notion that this place is well on its way to closing, as there was no one there, and I don’t need to hurry it along. It’s not like I want to try to shut restaurants down; I’m just alerting you to the fact that this place had a mouse running around (a baby mouse! so it must have parents somewhere) and didn’t seem to care. And yes, the staff saw it. I just want to put it out there… that this place has mice and didn’t do anything about it.
BF pointed out to me that I have eaten at places that have mice/rats before. Yes, I live & eat in New York City. I eat in dives, hole in the walls, places that surely have vermin, rodents, whatever. BUT THEY DO NOT FREAKIN’ COME OUT AND SAY HI.
I should also note that the movie Ratatouille (from which the title of this post is taken: at the end of the movie, Remy opens La Ratatouille with the two humans) actually really grossed me out. I didn’t like it. I didn’t find it cute. I found it repulsive to the nth degree. It really bothered me, and usually things like that don’t bother me. I had a pet rat/mouse when I was in high school. I don’t scream when I see these things. Just… the idea of a rat preparing food for people… really… disgusted me. Truly. (And I love Disney/Pixar and animated films oh so much.)
So, no, I didn’t get our meal comped after seeing a mouse running around the empty restaurant. I didn’t raise hell, I didn’t tell the waiter “there is a freaking mouse over there, what the hell?!” and I didn’t do anything but wait until BF was done eating, and then leave, after paying our somewhat exorbitant check (for a restaurant in the mall!) of $50ish.
I’ll let this restaurant die out on its own… although I will tell you there was a mouse in the house. And you will tell everyone you know who might even remotely come into contact with this restaurant, and it will spread around and finally people will stop going, and you will know why.
Yvo says: Mouse. On the loose. Waiters didn’t care. MOUSE. Are you listening?! (Okay, fine, the food was fine, besides the clams.)
not recommended at all
Ambitious says
Yvo!!!!!
holy crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would have had a freakin' fit and ran out of there faster than you can say waitaminuteyoudidntpayforthebill….
Nicholas says
If it makes you feel any better, I saw a several geckos crawling around on the walls of this cafe in Taipei. Instead of apologizing or anything reasonable, our waiter left, grabbed his camera, and took a picture.
I don't think it would've been outrageous to have your bill comp'd though.
Sile says
Mice I can deal with, but if I had seen bugs, it would have been ON!
You'd think a busboy would have come around with a broom and dustpan and taken the creature away descreetly. 🙁
SkippyMom says
I would put this on Yelp! too – more people should know about this. That is just yucky.
I don't know if I would've said anything, but I can guarantee that I would've stopped eating and decided whether I was going to pay the bill. ick.
soopling says
I was skeeved out by the movie Ratatouille also! Not all of it, but definitely by the scene near the end where the entire kitchen is being manned by rats. They tried hard to make it cute, but I couldn't get past my squeamishness, nope.
Same with the "cute" cockroaches and other vermin in that Cinderella movie Enchanted.
miss janie says
Oh gross! I've been in the mall and sometimes lingered with a serious consideration towards stopping in at that cafe. Now I'll definitely know better. How dare they turn a blind eye when they have a vermin issue?! That's beyond ridonkulousness. Many thanks for the heads up.
Sam says
I somehow landed on this page while trying to find a place on Long Island to eat tonight and felt compelled to comment.
I used to work at Panino in 2007 and can tell you that this does not surprise me at all. The place was filthy and full of bugs. I once had a customer find a cockroach in her sandwich. Though I don’t recall seeing any mice or rats there, I do remember some of my coworkers telling me that they had seen them there. The owners did not care at all about the condition of the restaurant and by the time I left, it had gotten so bad that there were flies all over the dining room.
I noticed recently that they had changed the name. I don’t know if that means anything but I vow to never step foot in that place again.