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September 8th, 2008
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Not ready for prime time

People, not food, are Metropol's most memorable features
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August 1st, 2007 issue

Metropol

Národní 33
Prague 1–Old Town
Tel. 246 022 500
Open daily 7 a.m.–11 p.m.

Food *
Service ***
Atmosphere *
Overall *

Jan Přerovský/THE PRAGUE POST
Windows to an ever-changing world: the lobby/lounge/dining area at Metropol.
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FROM THE MENU

Truffle gnocchi 165 Kč
Beet salad 185 Kč
Baked goat cheese 190 Kč
Fish and chips 250 Kč
Pork schnitzel 190 Kč
Beef tartare 290 Kč

The lobby of Metropol Hotel doubles as a restaurant — for the moment.
Barroom tables litter the space in front of reception typically reserved for uncomfortable settees. Dining room four-tops occupy the area set aside for casual drinking. Beige carpeting adorns the walls, cut here and there to make room for doors or just to fill an awkward gap.
The place has an unfinished feel because, well, it’s unfinished. Work continues on a dedicated restaurant space upstairs. But, for now, the dining area is also the bar, the lobby and the shoeshine stand.
The makeshift setup seems intended to take full advantage of seasonal people-watching. Sit near the entrance or out on the sidewalk and you start to wonder: Have mud-brown tank tops ever been fashionable? The waitress reaches for your glass, exposing a rather prominent hickey. One of Národní’s notorious homeless begins a drawn-out argument with someone’s minivan.
Even if you don’t score one of the sidewalk seats, the flow of hotel guests provides a bit of entertainment. One recent evening, for instance, an all-male “drinking team” from Norway entered toting a weekend’s worth of luggage.
The menu advertises full English breakfast served all day to satisfy stag-party tastes. There are a couple pasta offerings, schnitzel, fish and chips, vegetarian meals — it seems like Metropol is trying to appease everybody.
But do they succeed?
Let’s see. The truffle gnocchi resembles mashed potatoes inside a tacky shell: firm outside with a squishy center, like Freshen Up (a popular chewing gum in the States with a liquid center.) The sauce packs a sour sting — probably cheap white wine — in which flaccid fungi shavings gasp for breath. Slices of beet sandwiching goat cheese spread masquerade as a salad, presenting an essentially trite, though quite colorful arrangement, with pale drizzles of decorative oil.
The behemoth mound of man-handled red meat that passes as beef tartare would satisfy several ravenous drinking-team stars. But, while the kitchen chooses good, fatty beef, its muscular treatment breaks down the silky mouthfeel; any balance of flavor is lost to doses of pickle and mustard.
On the other hand, Metropol’s schnitzel features melt-away pork, almost milky in flavor, in a shell that holds up under stress. It balances tender meat with a crusty texture and svelte seasoning. Pretty good for a pedestrian entree.
At the moment, service outstrips the food. Wait staff actually make eye contact, and are not condescending if you try out clumsy Czech. When things go wrong, servers apologize (no solutions, mind you, just mea culpas). And a few of them actually seem to know Metropol’s menu. Our waiter on one visit, for example, helpfully steered us away from fish and chips.
Though it’s not clear why. Yes, the restaurant’s version of this British pub favorite is timid — clean to start, with a slight musty finish and a weak crust. But the meat comes across as firm and flaky. The chips are common, but also deftly seasoned. I’ve tried worse in London. Of course, I’ve ordered much better in many places, England and abroad.
So this piece of unfinished business may, eventually, be slick … at least according to one publication. After writing this, I noticed a Czech Business Weekly write-up which spoke, in glowing terms, about the unopened upstairs dining room.
Hmm …
Wasn’t it Emerson who suggested that the greatest creations of humankind are those left unfinished? Maybe so. But old Ralph Waldo never grabbed a meal at Metropol.


Other articles in Night & Day (1/08/2007):

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