Complejo Zapata y 12, a hybrid-managed “all-terrain” cafeteria – run by both the state and private sectors – does not live up to the praise that the official Havana press dedicated to it a few weeks ago. The center, which claimed to be the flagship of “gastronomic resuscitation” in the island’s capital, fights tooth and nail and with few results against the mediocrity imposed on it by the Provincial Food Industry Company.
According to the official press, the State “provides the premises, the workforce and the technological infrastructure, while the private company supplies all the imported material and is involved in the production process.” the formula is repeated the recently opened Miramar Trade Center Grocery and, before that, the branches of the Sylvain chain.
The ice creams of the Zapata Complex and 12 are made on the premises, combining imported products with other flavors of national production. Iván Ávila López, the director of the private part of the cafeteria, assured that its production capacity was 400 liters per day and five flavors of ice cream.
The reality is different, as verified this Thursday 14ymedio. Customers, overwhelmed by the inattention of the waiters, cannot order the flavor of ice cream they want and have to put up with excuses from the vendors. “There is no chocolate,” said an employee, while his client pointed out that it was advertised on the menu.
“Well,” corrected the worker, “there is, but it’s too hard to bowl itFrustrated, the customer had to settle for coconut ice cream, which wasn’t even well frozen.
Parsimonious, with a bad character, the waiters take their time to come to the tables
“You can drink it,” savored a woman sitting at one of the white tables in the place. “However, you can’t say it’s ‘real’ good ice cream.” “The worst thing,” pointed out another, “is the service. And that on television they said it was the greatest thing.”
Parsimonious, with a bad character, the waiters take their time to come to the tables. Gone is the dynamism of the first days, when a squad of local leaders, led by the first secretary of the Communist Party in Havana, Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar, made an appearance at the facilities and examined the “productive chain” between the State and the private ice cream parlor.
Now, on the other hand, the waiters “take a long time, they are not friendly and they take time to bring anything,” lamented a client, waiting for his hamburger, another of the specialties that television announced with hype and cymbal.
The prices are not to celebrate either. A simple hamburger costs 150 pesos and a double, 300. Each scoop of ice cream, on the other hand, costs 40 pesos. The drinks are not well chilled and the water is certainly almost hot. The salt shakers, to top it off, were filled with coarse salt and you have to open the container for it to be of any use.
Clients have already drawn their conclusions about the state-private equation: “They say they put complex because it combines both sectors,” a couple blurted out as they left. “But the only complex thing here is getting them to take good care of you.”
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio He is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for accompanying us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
