Another restaurant question.

Parent Cafe
1

I admit that I was irritated, am still honestly but wonder if this would have annoyed others also.

A group of 10 of us went to dinner on Saturday to a restaurant that mission is locally sourced small batched cooking.

I ordered as my entree, the mussels (an appetizer) with a side of fries. I was asked if I wanted the fries to come out with the mussels, yes. I even said I’m ordering mussels and frites. Another in the party ordered the special and was told that there was only one order left and he got the last one.

The waitress came back and said that they were out of the mussels and I had to order something else. I ordered the fish which was twice as expensive as what I had previously ordered.

Now we wait (we waited 45 minutes for our entrees to start to show up). Maybe half way into our wait the manager showed up. Something happened to the special, it was no longer available. But we are going to comp your meal, pick whatever you want. The person ordered the most expensive item on the menu.

Now I super annoyed, we had been waiting a long time at this point. The same thing happened to me but no compensation was offered to me (and I wasn’t expecting any compensation either). But why did they offer it to the other diner? Well maybe they were plating our entrees and his was dropped (he was told there was a “mishap”)?

We wait some more, a good while actually. The waitress comes, apologizing that our ticket was next. Among the first entrees served, the comp meal!

9 people are served. They start eating. I wait 5 more minutes for my fish, my H is almost finished with his steak! Finally I am the last person served by a lot. And with my fish entree, I get a side order of the fries. I had ordered than seared trout with couscous. I am so annoyed at this point that I point out that the fries were to go with the entree I originally ordered. The waitress starts to take the fries but says, keep them, I’ll take them off the bill. My nephew scarfs them down, I have none. Waitress asked how I like my fish, I again grumpyly say it was fine.

Our reservations were for 7:15,we were sat immediately, it is now 9. I am over hungry at this point. I had not ordered an appetizer and the salad was extra and they are huge. No bread served either.

Would you be annoyed? I wanted to complain but my H who hates to make a fuss wouldn’t let me and we were with a group of people. The waitress knew I was annoyed but didn’t know why, which I admit was our fault. H said if I complained he would not be happy (we were dining with his family).

Also, how do you think the restaurant should have handled this situation? It wasn’t a fast casual place, but a nice place.

2

Also the bill was split with my H and I paying for our share (very common in our part of the country). Waitress asked how we were splitting the bill.

3

I think the person in your party was comped a free meal because he ordered the special and was told he was getting the last one. Somehow the server messed up and the last one was given to another customer before your server could stake a claim on it. I side with the restaurant on how they handle that.

You were not comped because the mussels were a regular menu item that they just happened to run out of. This has happened to me on several occasions, and I never expected to be comped.

But not being served the trout until most in your party were finished eating?!?!?! I would be more than annoyed! I would be livid, and I don’t care what my husband said, I would have complained! That would have ruined the meal for me.

4

Yes, IMHO there were two things I’d complain about. Definitely the insanely long wait; I’ve complained about that before once it stretches over 30-40 minutes. I’d also complain if your dish was served significantly later than others, to the point that others were almost finished by the time your entree arrived.

Typically in those situations I’ve been comped either the entree or a free dessert. The way management reacts determines whether or not I’ll ever return to that restaurant.

Running out of an item like mussels unfortunately happens and that sort of thing I just sigh and accept.

5

Well, I would definitely not go there again with a large party. Sounds like their kitchen was unable to handle it.

That length of wait for your food is not acceptable. The fact that they served you 5 minutes after everyone else is even worse. Sounds like a very disorganized kitchen.

IMHO they should have given your table something to much on for free if you were going to have that kind of a wait. Unless the issue was that the others ordered appetizers and you had to wait for them?

If the food was particularly good, I might possibly go back with your H and maybe one or two others. If they screwed up again, that would be it.

If you want to get their attention, review them on Yelp. :slight_smile:

6

I think part of the difference in why the other was comped and not yours was due to the timing - yours right away and the other well after being ordered. That said, the service sounded crappy all around. Feel free to reach out to management and let them know. I think most restaurant management would prefer to hear direct feedback fro customers over a bad review.

7

I would call the manager the next day to explain the issues.

8

Did others order appetizers and salad? That can make the wait twice as long.
You the only one who ordered fish?

I’ve been stuck like you more than once. And no, I wasn’t happy. If I was in a smaller group I’d be complaining but it just puts a damper on large groups and makes you look like a whiner even if it’s a legitimate complaint. With big groups I figure I’m strictly there for the party and not for the food.

My new rules for large group dining–Expect long waits unless you know the restaurant is good at getting the food out for large groups. Eat something small before you go. Either order salad and appetizer as entree (go ahead and serve the salad), or eat what everyone else is having (everybody has steak at the steak restaurant–so don’t order lasagne).

9

You had no idea that service would be slow but with a big group it might have been a good idea to order some appetizers to share. We’ve found that works better with a big table. I would probably not complain that my dish came out late and have been happy the frites were comped.

10

I would be annoyed by that situation, but more so with my husband than the restaurant. Why did he start eating when you hadn’t been served? My husband would have sent his steak back and asked them to bring it out when my meal was ready. And if my order was wrong, I’d have sent it back to be redone and he’d have sent his back again and asked them to hold it until mine was ready. That might have gotten the attention of management. If it didn’t, my husband might have quietly gotten up and had a private chat with the manager. He certainly wouldn’t have objected if I chose to do so. The service sounds horrible, but neither you nor your husband made it clear that you expected better. You can do that quietly without causing a scene. The restaurant is a business and would have been helped by your feedback, so it’s too bad you didn’t say something.

11

I do think it is tough to dine with large groups. Many restaurants don’t handle it well.

@austinmshauri But what are your other 8 companions supposed to do while you and your husband are waiting? It makes it awkward all around. IMO, the courteous thing to do is to encourage all your dining companions eat while their food is warm rather than waiting. If they are courteous, they’d eat slowly and not wolf it down in 5 minutes. Sending prepared food back to the kitchen isn’t going to improve things for the rest.

I also think it is tough to complain about the service/food issues when with a group. Nobody wants to be “that person” putting a dampener on the evening so, personally, I can understand your husband’s viewpoint. There have been several occasions where I would have spoken up if I hadn’t been with many others. However, as I and others have stated, you can still share your concerns with management.

12

I love your approach @austinmshauri, I should have insisted H wait until I got my food. He’s very much a don’t rock the boat kind of person, even more so when around his family. Don’t think that I am not annoyed with my H for not letting me bring my problems to the waitress’s attention.

So I have been to this restaurant before, most recently with 8 of the 10 people this weekend. I do not remember the service being slow or any of the problems I had this weekend.

Yes a couple of people ordered starters but not any that could be shared or that they did share. It was a bowl of soup and a salad. We sat down, ordered drinks and some ordered a starter but only a couple. When the drinks and starters were brought, we ordered. We waited 40 minutes after ordering our entrees. Drinks and the starters were brought right out.

Our entrees came out in waves. The first wave had the same entree that I had, the trout. Couple of minutes later, another wave, my H came in the 3rd wave and I think most people thought mine would come out in a minute like the other waves so they started eating. Then I waited and waited until I got my trout, it was probably 10 minutes after the first trout. I get that it’s not a big place and that they probably did not have room to plate all 10 entrees at once.

At this point, we had been in the restaurant for almost 2 hours. My H should have waited but he was famished, just like I was.

Now not ordering appetizers for the whole table to share was a petty problem on my part. The last time we ate there, I ordered the cheese board and got 2 bites before (someone) at the table took the rest. It is annoying when the same people don’t ever order things to share but take all of your (shareable) food. And never offer to share the cost. Happens all the time and in no way is the restaurants problem. But I have dined here in the past with the same people ordering the same things and haven’t had problems.

I know that next time I go here, it’s a small area with H’s family. It’s a very expensive area and a bit of sticker shock for some of us so my H (and his parents) won’t go to the more expensive places in the area. This is a compromise, plus we have vegans so it’s not easy finding places. I will order a starter.

And now I get why one entree was comped and not another. But the comped entree was only some of my issues.

13

I would call the restaurant and speak to the manager and tell him about your experience and what bothered you. Be specific. Let them know you are a repeat customer. Try to be as pleasant as possible—which would be hard for me—but I have found that the old saying about “attracting more flies with honey” has some truth to it.

14

As a customer, it’s always difficult to know whether your awful dining experience was a result of The Spectacular Incident Where Everything Goes Wrong in a restaurant, or whether it’s Par for the Course for a poorly managed business.

There are so many moving parts in a busy restaurant, that when something goes sharply out of alignment, there can be the domino effect of disaster, perhaps magnified when there is a larger party (ex: the ability to get all the entrees to the table at the same time).

I would call and ask to speak to the general manager and explain that your dining experience was so bumpy and unpleasant, you are not sure it will be easy to convince your family & friends to give it another go, but you’d like to. Hopefully, the GM will make you offer, in order to “make it right”.

15

@doschicos, I’d encourage the others to eat. Having my meal be the last to arrive would be the worst because I’m the slowest eater, lol, but the others would linger over their meals until mine arrived. We’re not a shy bunch, so it wouldn’t matter if I was out with my family or my husband’s. One or more of the other 7 people would have stopped the waitress during that 10 minutes to ask how things were progressing.

I was out of town a couple weeks ago with my daughter. We stopped at a small restaurant in a college town to get lunch. All of the staff we saw appeared to be college kids. We both ordered sandwiches and fries. My daughter didn’t want cheese, neither of us wanted mayo, snd both of us indulged in fries but I wanted regular and she ordered spicy. Those poor kids couldn’t get it right. As soon as the plates were set in the window the server sent them back because they had mayo. One of the 2nd plates went back because it had cheese. (I think the server suspected my daughter was lactose intolerant because he had the entire plate redone). He kept mine under the heat lamp while they redid my daughter’s.

When we finally got our meals, the sandwiches were right but I had her fries and she had mine. The server had come by several times to apologize for the wait and offered to give us the dessert of our choice at no cost. We just laughed it off and told him no thanks. He was super friendly and seemed truly sorry we had to wait. One of my sisters lives in the area and we went back the next day with her to have dinner. It turns out the server is the son of one of her good friends. We had a great experience. I think his attitude made all the difference.

16

I am always more tolerant if a restaurant is busy. The only thing that gets me upset is if we are seated and sit there for a long time with no wait staff contact. I will happily take a swing by and a friendly I will be right with you over silence and being ignored. I would tell others to eat if their food came before mine.

17

Next time try a place who’s mission is to please their customers. :slight_smile:

But really, small batch and a party of 10 doesn’t sound like it mixes real well.