I had watched this building spring up in the heart of VI and waited patiently for it to begin operations. Before eventually trying this place out, I had heard varying opinions about this place around how expensive it was and all that. This cannot be that bad I thought till I visited and realized that you know what, all that glitters is indeed not gold. This was the case of Maison Fahrenheit (“MF”).
Externally, the structure is beautiful and internally from the reception lovely paintings hanging on the walls and lovely lighting making me fall in love. MF is a hotel with a restaurant and a rooftop bar (Rue 80) as with most hotels in the city of Lagos. I really had high hopes for MF but my expectation was cut short especially with its level of disorganization.
It is a known fact that Friday nights in Lagos are crazy and if you own a restaurant/bar, ideally you should be prepared for a crowd or a busy night.
Random Lagos Friday night at MF was a complete disaster. From trying to park the car to getting a table was just stressful.
Arriving at the rooftop bar which was where all the life was, getting a table took about 35 minutes and there was a TV screen with slideshows of pictures from MF keeping our eyes busy while we waited. We were politely told to wait which we did but what was odd, was that there were empty tables around but it just seemed the whole charade of having a queue may give it the impression of being ‘Turnt’. We had noticed a group of people leave in anger because they were told to leave a table which was reserved as they had been waiting for over an hour. Awks
We finally got a table at the back and we were hidden from the view of the waiters and managers as we were seated behind wooden blinds. After about 20-25 minutes, no one had attended to us or handed us a menu to keep our eyes and hands busy at least. We pretty much had to go get a waiter to attend to us and grab a menu ourselves. The table was dirty…. Despite telling the waiter twice to clean the table which he nodded in response meaning that he had heard and taken note. An hour later and our table was not cleaned (-_-)
Ordered a mini platter which was NGN8,000 and portion was so small. The platter had AsunDodo, Samosa, Spring Rolls & Chicken Wings. Also ordered a Burger and by the time the waiter brought the food, it was cold as if it had been placed in a fridge. Oh dear… At this point we were just confused… The canapés were not nice apart from the Chicken Wings which was not too bad but was basically Chicken in stew (proper chicken wings in Lagos is a problem…lol) and the burger was not nice especially since it was cold. By the time we were done managing our food, remember the table that some persons were asked to leave and they left angrily? It was still empty! There was a manager (I’m guessing because he acted as one) who was going around asking certain persons who I will assume he was familiar with if they were ok but no one asked us anything.
In terms of pricing, alcoholic cocktails are NGN3,000 while non-alcoholic goes for NGN2,000 but went with a safe choice of having a soft drink and water instead though I hear the cocktails are delicious.
This review may just sound like a rant. It was an upsetting experience.
To think I almost came here for my birthday (depressing thought)! First time here was not a good experience but I will be giving MF another chance though I have still heard complaints about the service here and how it has not improved. I am still willing to go back again to see if the service level has improved before concluding that MF is for looking alone and not eating or anything but just to enjoy the view. Customer service is key to maintaining a business in Lagos. I can understand that it is still a hot spot as it is new but that is the more reason why the service level has to be on point with more effort and attention.
Where is MF? Adeomola Adetokunbo Street, Opposite Eko Hotel, VI, Lagos
Verdict: All in all, this gets a FIL 1/5. Bad service, unfriendly staff & Cold food but with a good view
Have you been here? What did you think? Do share with us