How hard is it to put the bread on the right side?

You don't read a lot of reviews of fancy restaurants on this blog. Part of it is because my budget doesn't allow, part of it's because my tastes aren't that particular. Last night though we had a family dinner for my mum and sister's birthdays at Graduates Restaurant at Regency Tafe.

For those of you not aware of the place, it's a training restaurant for hospitality students, who are required to do some practical work as part of their course. The waiting staff are all students, and most of the kitchen staff are, although there is a head chef, who is presumably the only actual graduate of the group.

Anyway, I didn't think that being a waiter was something you needed a lot of training for, although talking to some colleagues today I've been told otherwise. However, these people were, in a word, terrible. I'd give them credit considering perhaps it was their first time, but the head student-waiter gave a little speech halfway through the night saying this was their seventh night, which I found hard to believe.

For example, they put our bread on the wrong side of the plate. A small thing, but something even I knew better than to do, and I have almost no formal training as a waiter. Also, I had to ask twice for Michella and I to be brought bread, as everyone else got theirs on arrival, and we didn't. Then when they brought it they dropped it on the way from the bread basket to my plate. They disappeared between courses, meaning we had to signal them when we were ready to order the next one. And then they forgot to get Dad his coffee he ordered. One mistake you might write off, but they really managed to screw up way more than you should.

The food itself was passable. I definitely ordered the most palatable food on offer - a mushroom risotto with steak strips for entree, pork wrapped in proscuttio for my main, and lemon pudding for desert. As you'd expect, the servings were rather small, but I didn't end up stopping off at Hungry Jacks on the way home, so it obviously did the job. I fared better than poor Ange, who ordered what she thought was chicken, but got a pie-like dish seemingly filled with soup. And then made Ash swap with her.