Should A Restaurant Keep Its Word?

 Is it too much to expect people to keep their word? What about a restaurant?

I’m thinking about adding a new restaurant to my “never go to” list after what can only be described as bad service this past Valentine’s Day. Knowing that everyone and their momma would be out that night, I made a reservation at a nearby P.F. Chang’s. We headed there early, to make sure we were there well before our reserved time. And when I saw the crowd standing in the lobby, I was glad that we had a reservation.

The two young hostesses were very polite as they checked us in and explained that we would receive a text when our table was ready. As it was chilly outside, we decided to find a spot in the lobby so that we could remain inside. From where we were standing, we could see into the dining room and as we looked upon the diners enjoying their food, I thought about how lucky we were to have a reservation.

And then the time for our reservation passed and we began to wonder how much longer we would be standing there. That’s when we overheard a conversation between another customer and our hostesses, the gist of which was that his reservation was for fifteen minutes before ours and he still had an estimated 45-minute wait. When asked how he would have to wait until a total of 60 minutes to get his reserved table, the hostesses admitted that their system had overbooked. Looking at the crowd in the lobby, I think that was an understatement. That’s when we cancelled our reservation and walked out of the restaurant.

Fortunately, as we walked to the car, we spotted a restaurant called Blue Agave which advertised as an authentic Mexican restaurant. They were able to seat us in less than five minutes, and we enjoyed a wonderful meal with really good service. In fact, I think it was better than what we would have gotten had we waited for over an hour at the other place. If you’re in or near Warrington, PA, I highly recommend making a trip to Blue Agave.

As for P.F. Chang’s? As I said earlier, it might go on my “never go to” list joining T.G.I. Friday’s after an incident years ago at one of its franchises. The way I see it, a reservation is a restaurant giving me its word that there will be a table for me when I arrive. In exchange, I agree to show up and spend money. On Valentine’s Day, I showed up cash in hand but found no table available. The restaurant did not keep its word.

See also: The Worst Restaurant Service Ever

Food App Mis-H-App

 

If you will indulge me, I would like to complain for a minute or two about Food Apps. Yes, those apps on the phone that most of us use here in the United States to order food. Sometimes I use them for delivery and sometimes I use them to save time when I go to pick up our food for my family. Sometimes the app is one that orders directly from the restaurant and sometimes it’s from a delivery service of one kind or another. Most of the time these apps are a wonderful convenience. Unfortunately, there have been numerous times when various restaurants got the order wrong and using these apps was anything but convenient.

I once had a restaurant cancel my order without explanation and without so much as a text. They did send an email, but I didn’t see it until after we had waited way too long for our food. Then there was the time when the app confirmed the order, and even charged my credit card, but when I arrived to pick up the food, the restaurant had no record of the order. The cashier explained that they had been having trouble with the app all evening and said I had to call customer service at their national headquarters. Customer service directed me back to the local franchise. Eventually someone, or something, must have caught the mistake because they refunded my money. Still, the ordeal left me wondering if I would ever go back to that chain.

More often than not, my app mishaps do not involve entire orders that evaporate into the cloud, but I have had several deliveries where one or two items were missing. That happened the last two times I ordered delivery, from two different restaurants. Once again these were national chains, and their customer service departments were good about it. One gave me a credit towards a future purchase (better than nothing). The other (Chick-fil-A) gave me a refund for the missing item.

While I enjoy the convenience of using these food apps, I think I’ll go back to driving to restaurants myself. That will allow me to check the order before I walk away. Plus, I figure if I have to make any more claims to customer service, someone is going to investigate whether or not I’m pulling a scam. It definitely beats having to figure out which family member goes hungry because the order was missing their item. (Just kidding.) It’s time to avoid food app mishaps and that means doing things the old-fashioned way. Now, where are my car keys?

The Worst Restaurant Service Ever

What’s the worst experience that you have had at a restaurant?

I still remember a particularly bad situation which for a long time caused me to avoid an entire restaurant chain. Our local franchise has since closed but even when I travel, that restaurant chain is never going to be my first choice. In fact, I’ve only eaten at that chain one time since this incident happened.

I thought about the incident over the weekend when my wife and I wanted to find a decent slice of cake to finish off a very pleasant evening spent together. We stopped at a local Cheesecake Factory where we had previously received bad service, giving the franchise a second chance. They redeemed themselves with good service and we likely will go back. But while our previous Cheesecake Factory experience was bad, it was nowhere near the worst service we have ever received. That incident happened at a restaurant which shall not be named in this post: a restaurant where the staff and management completely dropped the ball, almost like they did not want my business.

I should name the restaurant, but I’ll be nice. It was a place where we had gone several times before because we knew that the quality would be the same across the country, even if it wasn’t the best food in the area. My wife and I, along with our son (we only had one at the time) walked into the lobby of the restaurant and asked how long we would have to wait. The woman who was greeting customers told us it would be 20-30 minutes, so we gave her my name.

Because it was a bit crowded, we stepped into the hallway of the mall where the restaurant was located, where we stood just outside the door for about 15 minutes. The people who were there before us were just being seated, so we figured that we had to be coming up on the list. After another 15 minutes we asked the greeter if she had an estimate of how much longer we would have to wait. The woman responded by having some sort of breakdown and ran back into the restaurant. We all have bad days and at that point I was more concerned about her well-being than I was about our table.

It took another five minutes for her replacement to come to the door, at which time we again asked if our name was going to be called soon. This new greeter, without any real knowledge of the situation, told us that we missed our name being called and that we should have stayed in the lobby. I’m not sure what she based her answer on since she was not around to see what had happened prior to her coworker running away. And even if we had missed our names while in the mall, her response was not very customer friendly.

At this point I asked to speak with a manager but instead of a manager I found myself talking to yet another greeter who told me that they did not have a table large enough to seat my family. This answer came after they had already called in two groups that were much larger than my own, so I asked how they had tables that could hold six people but not a table that could hold three. Her response was enough to trigger protests from other customers who stepped in to defend me and my family after witnessing how we were being treated. I knew things were bad when bystanders were getting upset about the service that I was receiving and yet this new greeter stood her ground as if defending some cherished land.

I asked for the second time to speak to a manager and an assistant manager came to the lobby. Once again, I explained what happened and asked if there was a number I could call to contact their corporate parent. In response the assistant manager gave yet another excuse, telling me that the restaurant was having trouble because they had no hot water. At this point I was thinking it was time to call the health department as I’m fairly certain they were not supposed to be open without hot water.

Eventually we were given a table and the manager gave us a complimentary meal, which we reluctantly accepted. Something about not knowing how they were washing their hands without hot water made us hesitant to try the food. We ate and didn’t get sick (thank God) and I still tipped the waitress. After all, it wasn’t her fault that we received such bad service, but we never again set foot in that particular franchise.

I understand that people make mistakes and that in all likelihood the first greeter overlooked our names. I’m even willing to accept that the mistake may have been on our end and that we may have missed hearing our name called. However, there were several better ways to handle this situation without the breakdown and without all of the questionable explanations. Because of this, the situation ranks as the worst service I’ve ever received, not just at a restaurant but in any business.

What’s the worst service that you have ever received? Has anyone ever done something that cost them your business?