After the visit to Gracie Mansion was over we walked up East 88th Street, past the Church of the Holy Trinity to 5th Avenue to the Guggenheim Museum, first we went into the uninspiring looking restaurant for a late lunch, the menu looked good and we had high hopes after eating in some really great museum restaurants during our stay in New York. We should have realised there were problems when the couple on the next table were looking very glum, he had nearly finished his meal, she hadn’t yet been served. We saw another couple leaving having a heated discussion about the bill with the waiter. We ordered cocktails to drink while we read the menu. The cocktails still hadn’t arrived by the time we placed our order, then our soup was served, a fairly bland cauliflower soup with a sort of floating thing in it, still no cocktails and the couple on the next table had given up on her ever receiving her meal and walked out. Now there was only us and one other table of customers still there. Eventually we got our cocktails after asking many times, and every time the kitchen door opened the arguing and yelling in the kitchen could clearly be heard – it was like being in a TV drama.

I asked how much longer it would be before our main meals were served, the waiter disappeared back into the kitchen, lots more shouting could be heard. Eventually the waiter came out and plonked some plates in front of us, Christine got the meal she asked for, I didn’t.

I had ordered chicken that came with all sorts of vegetables, what I got was a pile of green spaghetti with 6 prawns dotted around the edge of the plate. I explained that wasn’t what I ordered and was told they had no chicken left so the chef cooked me that! I asked if I could see the menu so I could order something else (I suspect this is what happened to the couple next to us). Every time I said what I would like, they didn’t have it, I said I would keep the prawn thing and he offered to give us 10% off the bill – big mistake, the prawns were tasteless, the pasta was horrible, when he came back to see if everything was OK I told him it was disgusting, he said he would give us a free round of drinks. I thought that meant we wouldn’t have to pay for the cocktails we had already, but he brought more and said we would get a 10% discount on my meal only. I told him that I wasn’t prepared to pay for something I didn’t order that tasted so bad, now we were not only angry, we had too much to drink, those cocktails were strong. We asked for the bill, only paid for our soup and left. I told the lady at the entrance to the museum how bad it was, as she recommended it over the 3rd floor café. She was horrified.