Restaurant reparations - Page 3

realchef · #21 05-06-2009, 06:04 PM

Alright people, a little insight to a brutal business.

A. Valentine's, Mother's Day, Easter and Xmas are all Amateur days. Your chances of a quality experience decreases dramatically on any of these days. Take them for what they are worth. A huge day with most people needing to do double or triple the normal covers.

B. A comp is NOT a bribe. That's just BS. Most restauranteurs realise word of mouth is effective. If they recognise you have had a bad experience, they know the only to earn your respect is for you to come back. The only way you will come back is a free dinner. When's the last time your mechanic gave you a free oil change. Give them a break and another try.

C. I never wait more than 15 mins after a reservation unless the situation doesn't seem to be out of control. These are the perfect times to drop by that little place you have been thinking about and try it out. Most people sharp hosts want you to wait just long enough to have at least one cocktail, then seat you. When it starts dragging, there is a reason and it usually isn't good.

D. MD has great advice. Different name.

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Quicksilver · #22 05-06-2009, 06:52 PM

Hmmmm;

B-Line sorry to hear about your restaurant experience.

In all honesty though perhaps the scathing review you wrote might be
the reason you may not have been given more consideration.

Even a scathing review can provide constructive kind criticism
that gets to the point, describes the problem, and provides
suggestions for improvement without resorting to the inappropriate
language you used to describe your experience

The reference to "cheap hookers who hang out at the bar" IMO
was offensive as well and served no purpose.

I had an experience at a Winery/show a few years back and
personally wrote the owner about the experience and was awarded
dinner for four including a nice bottle of wine.

In the past I have experienced bad service as well but I learned
that a measurable amount of understanding first, followed by
commendation for something (even if there was little to commend)
and then the honest scathing critique usually brings tremendous results.

Catching a restaurant on a bad night, especially a holiday night can
be nothing short of exasperating for the owner, the worker, and
most of all the customer. Remember we are all human.

Just my 2 cents

Quote:

Originally Posted by B-Line

for those that are interested... Here is the scathing review I wrote.. Can you tell I was mad?

Worst Valentines Dinner - EVER !!!!

3 couples, 9:45 reservation. Reservations were made about 5 days ahead. It was not a last minute deal. The restaurant asked us to arrive early as they thought they could get us in earlier. We show up at 9:15, as asked.

The restaurant finally seated us at 10:50pm. That's an hour and five minutes after our reservation and almost two hours after they asked us to arrive. **Romantic, huh?**

Then they sat us at the crappiest table in the joint. A table situated right between the front door and the side door. So when the front door wasn't open and making everyone freezing, the side door was being used by the wait staff and making everyone freezing. - Not to mention the smell of smoke that kept wafting in every time someone went outside and lit one.

So now lets talk about the service. The manager tried to make things right by giving us a round of champagne while we waited at the bar. -- NOW HOLD ON JUST A GOD DAMNED SECOND... I bring my wife, my friends with their dates to your establishment an VALENTINES DAY, you sit us two hours late, at 11pm on VALENTINES DAY and the best you can do is offer us a free glass of cheap champagne????

- Here is what I would have done. I would have sent the table free appetizers and free desert. ANd I would have still apologized emphatically. I would have made sure that everything else for that evening was romantic, perfect, taken care of.. Did we get any of that... NO, just a free glass of CRAP CHAMPAGNE that would usually need to have orange juice added just so it didn't taste like, "free, cheap, champagne."

Now lets talk about the food. French Onion Soup, nice, nice, not thrilling, but nice. I tasted the farfalla which was pretty good. The entree that my wife and I both ordered, the $50 special Wagyu beef was MEDIOCRE at best. It was sold as beef that melts in your mouth.. Ahhh, no, not really. I've had real Wagyu beef and that does melt in your mouth. This was just a fatty, non special, piece of meat that should have had a $25 price tag at best. Wagyu, MY ASS. More like fancy marketing.

I guess the good thing about this restaurant is, there seems to be a lot of cheap hookers who hang out at the bar. And that always makes for a good laugh and dinner conversation.

So, if you're looking for a place that:
Has cheap hookers at the bar.
Treats their customers poorly.
Doesn't seat people on Valentines Day till 11pm with reservation.
Charges $50 for Wagyu beef that tastes like horse taint.
Has bad seating in drafty areas that reek of smoke.
-- Then Chaya is your place.....

Otherwise I would seriously consider going to a better establishment like Campagnile, Mozza, Melograno, etc.

Bad form CHAYA, BAD FORM !!!!!!

B-Line · #23 05-06-2009, 07:11 PM

QS,

You're not wrong. But you have to also understand that you and I approach things way differently. Yes, I could have been a little nicer, a little kinder.. But IMHO, they deserved it.

I went out on a limb and made a reservation for two other couples on a romantic evening and the restaurant made me look like an ass. They didn't seat us until 11pm!

I understand how hard it can be on the holidays and I generally give people a lot of slack. But when I reach my threshold, I reach my threshold. And they surpassed it by a long shot.

I still left a very nice gratuity. I didn't make a scene in front of their customers. I didn't act like a Hollywood A-hole.

But when that hostess smirked at me as we were walking out, "So, how was your dinner?" All I could think was, this is the most poorly managed restaurant I have ever been to and I'm going to let your customers know it.

As far as the hookers at the bar, I guess it didn't need to be said, but that didn't make it untrue. And Yelp is the type of place where people enjoy reading things like that.

As far as the review, the manager who called my wife asked her if I was a writer cause he found the review funny and well crafted. And he remembered us, and said that he meant to take care of us that night but forgot and left early. They also said, "We don't expect you to take down the review, we just want you to come in for a free dinner"... Which really means, "take down the review.." lol.. Cause if they really wanted to make it up to the group, IMHO, they would have invited the rest of the party, not just the couple who was responsible for the commentary.

I do hear your points though. And will be the first to admit that I do take a very in your face approach. But also want to add, I wasn't looking for a free meal. I was looking to warn other restaurant goers about a bad experience.

But I'll try to be nicer, next time.. lol.

B-Line · #24 05-06-2009, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by realchef

Alright people, a little insight to a brutal business.

A. Valentine's, Mother's Day, Easter and Xmas are all Amateur days. Your chances of a quality experience decreases dramatically on any of these days. Take them for what they are worth. A huge day with most people needing to do double or triple the normal covers.

RC,

Everybody knows that V-day, Mother's day, Easter, etc. is Amateur day. And no one is suggesting that a little extra slack and patience need not be in order on those busy days.

But if you're a well established, long standing, restaurant.. You better know what you can and can't accommodate. And if you drop the ball and make people wait, serve them some free appetizers at the bar. Send a free desert.

But after two hours at the bar all they offered was a glass of cheap champagne.. There's no excuse. Not for an expensive, big holiday meal for three couples..

vegasX5 · #25 05-06-2009, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B-Line

And if you drop the ball and make people wait, serve them some free appetizers at the bar. Send a free desert.

But after two hours at the bar all they offered was a glass of cheap champagne.. There's no excuse. Not for an expensive, big holiday meal for three couples..

I agree completely on this point. I concur mistakes happen when a hot spot is busy but it's no excuse for blatantly mishandling the situation.

Not too long ago, I checked a local neighborhood restaurant which is one of the highest rated places in town and was surprised to see how unassuming it was. I found out although the food was spectacular, the service is what made the experience. Case in point - when we arrived for 7pm reservations for 2, they informed us we would have to wait about 15 mins. They immediately brought over a complimentary tasting of a nice chardonnay while we waited. After we were seated, the GM came over and said that he knew it was our first time visiting and apologized again for the wait and offered a glass of wine on the house. While we were waiting for our food which was taking a little long (although we were enjoying the night so much it didn't matter), the waiter came out with a nice sampler appetizer compliments of the chef with more apologies. We enjoyed the gesture and our main course immensely. Right when we finished the GM came over and said that he would pick up a desert for us to split or another glass of wine if we preferred. We had an amazing experience and felt very very well taken care of even though they were running relatively late the whole time.

Here's something fresh too - I get a call the Monday after from the OWNER. He said he heard they were running a little behind schedule and wanted to thank me and my date for being so gracious and wanted to be sure our first experience was enjoyable. Result - complete satisfaction from a potentially frustrating situation. I'm sure something like this could have easily been in B-Line's case and no rant would have ever been necessary to get action!

JCL · #26 05-06-2009, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B-Line

Everybody knows that V-day, Mother's day, Easter, etc. is Amateur day.

I vote #3, under a different name, leave the review up but write a new review. Don't bargain for a comp dinner for 6, it was only you who wrote a review and it is you they want to show that they can serve a decent meal.

I think the bottom line is captured in your quote above. Personally, I have no expectations of decent service on Valentines Day or Mothers Day, and refuse absolutely to go out on those days. Too many bad experiences over the years.

realchef · #27 05-06-2009, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B-Line

RC,

Everybody knows that V-day, Mother's day, Easter, etc. is Amateur day. And no one is suggesting that a little extra slack and patience need not be in order on those busy days.

But if you're a well established, long standing, restaurant.. You better know what you can and can't accommodate. And if you drop the ball and make people wait, serve them some free appetizers at the bar. Send a free desert.

But after two hours at the bar all they offered was a glass of cheap champagne.. There's no excuse. Not for an expensive, big holiday meal for three couples..

B,

Fair points.

Personally, I wudda got the hell outta there. Sometimes things are as they appear. Tightly booked with people straggling at the tables= LONG night. Once overrun, not many people will ever pull out of the nose dive. There are ways to handle these situations. It's unfortunate they didn't use them. But that doesn't mean their daily biz isn't handled well.

Unspoken rule #1-control your customers. They obviously didn't and lost control entirely.

I ran a room in Europe. Tables were booked for the evening. There was always a warm response when explaining to people accomodations can be made.

"Sir, that table is already booked at 8:00. We would be glad to have drinks and dessert ready for you in the bar, but we need the table by 7:45."

People can be very understanding if the facts are laid out to start.

B-Line · #28 05-06-2009, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegasX5

I agree completely on this point. I concur mistakes happen when a hot spot is busy but it's no excuse for blatantly mishandling the situation.

Not too long ago, I checked a local neighborhood restaurant which is one of the highest rated places in town and was surprised to see how unassuming it was. I found out although the food was spectacular, the service is what made the experience. Case in point - when we arrived for 7pm reservations for 2, they informed us we would have to wait about 15 mins. They immediately brought over a complimentary tasting of a nice chardonnay while we waited. After we were seated, the GM came over and said that he knew it was our first time visiting and apologized again for the wait and offered a glass of wine on the house. While we were waiting for our food which was taking a little long (although we were enjoying the night so much it didn't matter), the waiter came out with a nice sampler appetizer compliments of the chef with more apologies. We enjoyed the gesture and our main course immensely. Right when we finished the GM came over and said that he would pick up a desert for us to split or another glass of wine if we preferred. We had an amazing experience and felt very very well taken care of even though they were running relatively late the whole time.

Here's something fresh too - I get a call the Monday after from the OWNER. He said he heard they were running a little behind schedule and wanted to thank me and my date for being so gracious and wanted to be sure our first experience was enjoyable. Result - complete satisfaction from a potentially frustrating situation. I'm sure something like this could have easily been in B-Line's case and no rant would have ever been necessary to get action!

Great experience.. Please share the name of the establishment so I can check it out next time in Vegas!!

Also suggest you Yelp about the great experience you had...

Quicksilver · #29 05-06-2009, 10:04 PM

I'm not sure what you mean by your comments
but I'll take a stab and conclude that you would
ask a customer to vacate a table for a waiting customer.

If so that may go down good in Europe but requesting that a
customer vacate a table is not a hard and fast rule.

If a person has a reservation for 8PM it may not be for
a particular table. And I don't believe too many businesses
are going to offend a paying customer by requesting a customers table
if that customer is spending a lot of money. Instead they will usually find the 8:00 another table

Quote:

Originally Posted by realchef

Unspoken rule #1-control your customers. They obviously didn't and lost control entirely.

I ran a room in Europe. Tables were booked for the evening. There was always a warm response when explaining to people accomodations can be made.

"Sir, that table is already booked at 8:00. We would be glad to have drinks and dessert ready for you in the bar, but we need the table by 7:45."

People can be very understanding if the facts are laid out to start.

realchef · #30 05-06-2009, 10:27 PM

Squeezing somebody in. Telling them you are booked and they ask if there's away to fit them in. When pressed, I would sell the table early (6-6:30) and openly discuss with them what is being done and when it is needed by. Never had a problem. They were always happy to be accomodated. It works here too.

Which would you prefer:
a. confirming your 6 at 8 only to have the same experinece as B.
b. being told we're booked. We're going to make an effort to seat you between 8;30-9:30 hopefully. Are you comfortable having drinks with us and maybe an appetizer in the bar while we work out your table?

That's not that unreasonable??

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quicksilver

I'm not sure what you mean by your comments
but I'll take a stab and conclude that you would
ask a customer to vacate a table for a waiting customer.

If so that may go down good in Europe but requesting that a
customer vacate a table is not a hard and fast rule.

If a person has a reservation for 8PM it may not be for
a particular table. And I don't believe too many businesses
are going to offend a paying customer by requesting a customers table
if that customer is spending a lot of money. Instead they will usually find the 8:00 another table

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