- 5,420
- 395
- Joined Sep 5, 2008
Wow, this is pretty unbelievable. I have trouble believing how many restaurant owners and/or managers who are also waiting tables have an attitude here in Los Angeles.
Part I
My wife and I go to this tapas restaurant. Very nice, the waiter (who is apparently the manager, maybe even the owner) comes and brings us the menu. We're left to ponder for 5 mn, and notice the $20 tapas plate special for two. Sounds great!
Waiter comes back and asks us what we want. We order the Tapas special, which contains baby back ribs - one of the tapas on the plate. At that point he tells us they don't have baby back ribs. He goes on to say that it takes them 6 hours to make the ribs.
That was the first negative note: first of all I don't care how long it takes you to make them. Second, if this is part of your special, and the first tapas in your "A la carte" menu, don't you think it'd be worth mentioning that you're out of them WHEN YOU BRING THE MENU, not once we've made our choice?
OK so he says we can replace them with the beef skewers. My wife says she doesn't eat beef. He replies "But baby back ribs are pork!". My wife says "Yes, so?". He says "So you eat pork but you don't eat beef?" as if she was from another planet. My wife says "Yes, is that not allowed?".
Now most tapas are A la carte between $8 and $13 or so. The $20 special includes about $28 worth of tapas including the $10 baby back ribs. The suggested beef skewers replacement are $11. I spot garlic prawns for $12, so I suggest we replace the missing baby back ribs with the garlic prawns since my wife doesn't eat beef. I can see him grimace and suggest we just order "A la carte". I insist we want the garlic shrimp in the special, and he says there will be a supplement. OK fine, I agree. I just pray the supplement is not going to be $7 or something absurd, but whatever.
Still I'm a little annoyed that because they don't have what they advertise to sell, I have to pay extra for something else that's not exactly what I wanted in the first place. But whatever, I'm here to have a good time.
From then on, the meal was great, the food was very very good, the waiter started joking a bit (albeit with a patronizing tone) and finally didn't charge us a supplement. Thank you sir, but you should have offered that from the start. Still a good effort on his part and I leave a very generous tip.
Part II
10 days later we go back to the same restaurant. As the waiter brings us the menu, I ask if they have the baby back ribs. He replies with a tone that seems to suggest I can't read: "Yes, they're on the menu, aren't they?".
You've got to be kidding me? I really want to give him a piece of my mind, but I'm here with my wife to enjoy a good time together away from the kids. I'm not here to argue and fight. So I let it go.
But honestly, despite the excellent food at unbeatable prices in a wonderful setting, I don't think I'll go back.
Sorry, you won't see my business again.
Part I
My wife and I go to this tapas restaurant. Very nice, the waiter (who is apparently the manager, maybe even the owner) comes and brings us the menu. We're left to ponder for 5 mn, and notice the $20 tapas plate special for two. Sounds great!
Waiter comes back and asks us what we want. We order the Tapas special, which contains baby back ribs - one of the tapas on the plate. At that point he tells us they don't have baby back ribs. He goes on to say that it takes them 6 hours to make the ribs.
That was the first negative note: first of all I don't care how long it takes you to make them. Second, if this is part of your special, and the first tapas in your "A la carte" menu, don't you think it'd be worth mentioning that you're out of them WHEN YOU BRING THE MENU, not once we've made our choice?
OK so he says we can replace them with the beef skewers. My wife says she doesn't eat beef. He replies "But baby back ribs are pork!". My wife says "Yes, so?". He says "So you eat pork but you don't eat beef?" as if she was from another planet. My wife says "Yes, is that not allowed?".
Now most tapas are A la carte between $8 and $13 or so. The $20 special includes about $28 worth of tapas including the $10 baby back ribs. The suggested beef skewers replacement are $11. I spot garlic prawns for $12, so I suggest we replace the missing baby back ribs with the garlic prawns since my wife doesn't eat beef. I can see him grimace and suggest we just order "A la carte". I insist we want the garlic shrimp in the special, and he says there will be a supplement. OK fine, I agree. I just pray the supplement is not going to be $7 or something absurd, but whatever.
Still I'm a little annoyed that because they don't have what they advertise to sell, I have to pay extra for something else that's not exactly what I wanted in the first place. But whatever, I'm here to have a good time.
From then on, the meal was great, the food was very very good, the waiter started joking a bit (albeit with a patronizing tone) and finally didn't charge us a supplement. Thank you sir, but you should have offered that from the start. Still a good effort on his part and I leave a very generous tip.
Part II
10 days later we go back to the same restaurant. As the waiter brings us the menu, I ask if they have the baby back ribs. He replies with a tone that seems to suggest I can't read: "Yes, they're on the menu, aren't they?".
You've got to be kidding me? I really want to give him a piece of my mind, but I'm here with my wife to enjoy a good time together away from the kids. I'm not here to argue and fight. So I let it go.
But honestly, despite the excellent food at unbeatable prices in a wonderful setting, I don't think I'll go back.
Sorry, you won't see my business again.
