Santos

231 Canley Vale Rd (Cnr Derby St)

Canley Heights 2166 NSW

Phone: (02) 9727 0580

My first non-photo food related post EVER.!

Two weeks ago on a Monday night, me Jc & Bich went out for dinner for a catch up.

Santos was originally located on the main road (beside the Pub) but have recently moved across the road on the corner of Derby Street.

We shared a large plate of chips (with extra chicken salt which was charged at $2.60, but you get a small cup full of this stuff and Bich says it's worth it even to come here just for the chicken salt and chips!).

Also sharing a plate of garlic bread (Bich wasn't really hungry) while Jeremy has a creamy chicken and avocado pasta and i chose a creamy red pasta with sundried tomatoes.

Later that night i began to feel incredibly sick, and went for a lie down to try and get some sleep but this feeling in my gut was awful and i could feel my food going back up my food tube.. (esophagus??)

At around midnight i spewed out my pasta dinner (i won't go into detail but it was definitely and no undoubtedly the pasta that i ate).

This is the fourth time in my life that i've had food poisoning.

The first: cherries, i have no idea why as they were new from the shop but it could be the fact that i was shovelling them into my mouth and not fully chewing them before swallowing (i love cherries but i went through a period where i was so turned off by them cos of this incident)

The second: a late night snack at a cafe in Liverpool (i've forgotten the name but its right outside westfields closest to the doors) it was a sunday night (i remember because it was work the next day and also Richard's birthday) and i had a chocolate croissant. I felt sick when i woke up in the morning and out it came ew. I have not eaten a croissant ever since! (this was around 2006-2007). I have not been there since.

The third: Bircher Muesli i made myself which i kept in a box with a loose lid in the fridge. If the lid wasn't broken and it was closed properly then i don't think i would've gotten sick as usually they keep for about a week in the fridge except this was only at day four. I had some around 10am for morning tea and not even an hr later i was insanely sick with vomiting and was sent to the doctor and then home. I didn't eat bircher muesli for a long while after that, at least 3 yrs. I made some last year but the satisfaction in eating it was no longer there (and i felt like i was eating it for health purposes only, not for any cravings of any sort)

And now my fourth time, due to a pasta dish at this restaurant.

Initially i had no plans to do anything except move on with my life and perhaps never set foot back in that restaurant. After telling Mel though, she convinced me to tell the restaurant owner, and i also thought maybe i could ask for some sort of compensation.

I rang Santos the next day but although the manager was not there, the waitress (i assume) took my name and number and said her boss will ring me back some time soon.

A few hours later the manager rang me back and asked me what i had, and proceeded to tell me that he served the same dish to eight other people and so far no complaints, and that he also receives his ingredients fresh off a refridgerated van and that his food storage and handling complies with the food acts in Australia (or something along those lines).

He wasn't at all talking to me in a contradicting manner, and was very professional about it, and he offered me a free meal the next time i came in because he did want me to come to his restaurant again. So my name is down in books as 'free meal'.

Now my question to you is - what would you do in my situation? I know it's free food and all but i've been slightly scarred from the incident. It's unlikely that i will get food poisoning two times in a row (i have eaten at the old Santos a couple of times with no problems), but should i be wary? Should i take the offer?

I'd love to hear your thoughts..

Photo's courtesy of http://jhieu.wordpress.com/