No room for you at the W

So last night was Jonathan's last evening in San Juan and our first one back in the city. We decided to get together for dinner at Dragonfly, a pan-Asian place that offers small plates ideal for sharing--seemed like an ideal spot. Unfortunately, the city was overrun by cruise ship folks, many of whom decided to dine at the same place. After ordering, we sat for an eternity waiting for our food, while neighboring tables were consistently being brought food they didn't order. We did finally get one of our sushi rolls, but once we ate it and the waiter cleared our plates, they tried to bring us the same dish again. The nadir of the whole experience was when, after an hour had passed, they brought us our lobster shrimp dumplings. We each started to eat, at which point I got the strong suspicion we weren't eating fish. Turns out they were pork dumplings. We sent them back, explaining they weren't what we ordered. 5 minutes later the waiter comes back with the same dish, explaining that the dumplings were indeed fish, and that they had even cut into them in the kitchen. We all asserted they were pork, at which point the waiter said, "but, they have mango in them." We replied that what we ate had no mango, only pork. He insisted, at which point Michael had to assertively demand, "YOU try them."

I don't know what was worse, the pork taste in my mouth or the fact that the waiter was claiming we were delusional. This is clearly a place in which the customer is not always right.

It caused us to recall yesterday's ride to the airport in Vieques. Our American innkeeper was driving us, talking about life on the island. He mentioned the island's new W resort. When they first opened, in hopes of giving back to the community, they hired 60 percent of their staff from the island. Well, that didn't turn out too well so they expanded, pulling that 60 percent from the larger Puerto Rico area. That didn't work either, so they now recruit internationally. Turns out the Puerto Ricans aren't so great with the customer service, something we could have told them.

Thankfully, the night ended well. Back at our favorite bar, The Patio, I was able to order my favorite Puerto Rican snack, fried cheese balls. Warm, gooey cheese encased in a hard fried shell. It worked wonders eliminating the bad taste of pork and poor service.