I met some Fulbright-Bulgaria friends for dinner at this Moroccan restaurant <a href="http://annette.bg/index.php?p=contact&amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank">Annette</a> this week (and for those of you learning Bulgarian along with me or those of you who wonder why I titled my post as I did PECTOPANT is the Bulgarian word for restaurant). I was really looking forward to eating something other than Shopska Salad--a girl can only have so much of this before the novelty begins to wear off and it's beginning to wear off--and I was looking forward to spending time with people outside of my intensive Bulgarian language class.

I didn't have a hand in picking the restaurant but the email I got with the address and map showed that the restaurant was no more than six or seven blocks from my apartment and this seemed like an auspicious start.   The website was beautiful and the menu online looked great.  I thought going through the website: I'd better not wear what has become my standard uniform--layered tank tops--in the Sofia heat (it's been between 83-93 degrees the last couple of weeks) to the restaurant.  So I got a little bit dressed up and walked over to Annette.

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It was easy to find and first appearances did not disappoint.  Inside, there were low tables, the lighting was spot on--not to dark not to light and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.  Standing outside, I caught myself thinking: oh, this restaurant is in Sofia? It looks like it could belong just as easily in an expensive stretch of Georgetown only the menu revealed much lower prices.

Our group was sitting on the patio behind the restaurant.  This was definitely not as nice as inside but the ambiance out here was nice as well.  It certainly helped that none of the tables were too close together and that there was a little breeze in the air.  The great thing about this was that the noise from other parties at the restaurant was never overwhelming and the patio didn't feel overly crowded even though there were eight or ten different groups eating outside.

But, looks can be deceiving.  The well manicured facade was covering for extremely disappointing service the night I was there.  It's not as if I was expecting top-flight service but I was expecting service. For the first forty-five minutes at the restaurant our table of eight had only one menu and only after going to the bar was one of the Bulgarians able to get a second menu.  A waiter didn't come to our table for a full 60 minutes and at that point we were ready with both our drink orders and our dinner orders.  We didn't want her to go away and not come back for another 60 minutes.

After this, it wasn't much of a surprise that our food took longer than it should have to arrive at the table but what was a surprise was that one of our group didn't receive her dinner.  When she inquired about it the waitress said something to the effect of: oh we're out of that tonight and then offered to get the menu again. Really, you are out of a dish and couldn't have conveyed this sooner? I had never seen anything like this was found it both completely unexpected and completely unacceptable.  Poor service is one thing but not receiving a meal for someone at your table is a wholly different thing.

She was clearly angry and hungry and the question then becomes what do you do? Does everyone at the table sit and wait for her to order and for her new meal to be prepared? do you share your dinner? or something else? Well we ended up sharing our dinners with her but it wasn't the same and it clearly impacted our ability to enjoy our meal.

This said the food we did receive was well cooked and very flavorful.  I had the chicken skewer served over pita, cucumber and yogurt.  The pita was disappointing--store bought I think--but the spices used on the chicken added an unexpected depth to the chicken and the chicken was cooked through with nice grill marks but not overcooked. This said, I don't think that I would have this dish again because the pita was only so-so but there were other dishes featuring the same grilled chicken with other sides and I would definitely try one of those dishes in the future.

At my table, people ordered a variety of different things.  The veggie couscous was beautiful with plenty of colorful vegetables and served with a side of broth.  But I think that by far the best dish was a quiche served with five different salads.  This is the kind of dish that will satisfy your curiosity about Moroccan food by giving you a sample of a lot of different textures and flavors. Two people at our table ordered the Moroccan meatballs and while they said they were good, they got exactly that a bowl of grilled meatballs--nothing more and nothing less.  So be forewarned and considering ordering a salad to go along with this dish, if you think you want more than just meatballs.

Luckily for me the conversation made up for the poor service and I had a great night but I think that a mishap like ours could have easily spoiled another person's night.  The problem is that I am not sure where the blame should be placed--maybe it was our waitress but maybe it was the kitchen or maybe it was something else--I guess that I'll probably give the place another shot at some point in the future because it does have such a  charming atmosphere and I did like the food but I wont go in expecting too much and then I can't be too disappointed.

All in all, it's too bad really because had the service been half as nice as the website then I would have been extreamly satisified with the resturant Annette at 27 "Angel Kunchev" Street.