ArmpitNJ.com

Let me start by saying I have tremendous respect for restaurant workers (and all service employees). I know the jobs aren’t easy, and a lot of hard work goes into everything they do. So this post isn’t meant to demean employees themselves or hurt anyone’s feelings. Maybe we just happened to go on an off-night. Maybe we didn’t order the right things. Maybe other factors were taking place that we didn’t see.

Whatever the case may be, if you’re going to spend more than $300 on a meal, you’d expect everything to be above and beyond. But that simply wasn’t the case at a recent dinner at Lita in Aberdeen.

Lita’s is a modern Iberian restaurant that took over the space of what used to be Eli’s, a beloved bagel place in my favorite strip mall in the Armpit of America. It’s received several awards and been on countless “best restaurants” lists. Everyone seems to have nothing but wonderful things to say about this place, but unfortunately, I do not understand why. Everything from the service to the food was such a let down. I’d much rather prefer a bagel from what it used to be.

When the chef is waiting tables…you know there might be a problem

Interestingly, there’s a blurb on the menu about how the entire staff is cross-trained on each role and how they all rotate positions each week. While this sounds good in theory — to ensure equal pay and remove the hierarchical drama in restaurants — I think this might explain some of the disappointment. I mean, if you have different people cooking the food each week, I’d think it would be hard to maintain the same level of quality.