If You Owned This Restaurant... What Would You Have Done?
By Hate2Iron
@Hate2Iron (15730)
Canada
May 23, 2019 8:49am CST
We just got back from an overnight trip to New York and visited a restaurant that had been given rave reviews, when we asked. The ambiance was really good... an 9/10 for that, the food was good but there was one catch.
They had a huge party that was being catered and we were told that we might have to wait 30 minutes for our dinner. We said that would be okay but when an hour had passed and we had finished the glasses of wine that we had been sipping... we started to get a little annoyed. She returned once to our table to let us know that it wouldn't be much longer, that they were plating our meals... which they weren't btw!
To kill time, hubby and I started to discuss what we would have done in the same circumstances if we owned the restaurant. I'm curious to see what your thoughts are on the matter...
I thought that offering a free appetizer would have been something that I would have done. Having patrons sitting there getting hungrier and more annoyed by the minute would be the last thing I would want to happen.
What are your thoughts??
11 people like this
9 responses
@BelleStarr (61047)
• United States
23 May 19
The same thing happened to us recently, we opted not to stay. If a restaurant is catering an event and can't treat regular customers in a timely manner they should close to the public and just do the catered event. They have probably lost customers over this.
2 people like this
@Hate2Iron (15730)
• Canada
24 May 19
If the thirty minutes was all it would have been, I wouldn't have minded so much... but it was a lot more! If we had known, we would probably gone elsewhere too!
1 person likes this
@LovingMyBabies (85127)
• Valdosta, Georgia
23 May 19
I would have offered something to eat as well, people are much more patient when they aren't hungry. =)
If I was the customer I would have told the waitress what a great job she's doing and that Jesus loves her. Imagine what she was going through with a bunch of angry/hungry customers?!? Yikes!
1 person likes this
@Hate2Iron (15730)
• Canada
24 May 19
We definitely felt sorry for her! It was a horrible position to be put in and hubby left a tip because of it!
1 person likes this
@LovingMyBabies (85127)
• Valdosta, Georgia
24 May 19
@Hate2Iron Good, I am so glad y'all were able to bless her out of it. =)
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
23 May 19
I was in a similar situation once. The waiters apologized many times and they told us that they would give us a free dessert because we had to wait so long for our food. If I were the owner I would have done something similar - offered free a drink or some kind of food.
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (116860)
• Anniston, Alabama
23 May 19
Free food, of coarse, but I would have made sure ALL the customers got food in a timely manner.
Now this is what you do now, call the daytime manager and discuss this matter with him/her. Tell them about how disappointed you were especially after reading the reviews, see where this gets you.
And they need to know how people get treated, whether to close to the public when they are having a party.
1 person likes this
@Hate2Iron (15730)
• Canada
24 May 19
I don't know if this is a regular thing or not, but I would imagine that the word would get around if it was!
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
23 May 19
I would be more honest in relating wait time.
1 person likes this
@Hate2Iron (15730)
• Canada
24 May 19
I did feel sorry for the waitress... she was the only one in the restaurant.
@1creekgirl (40635)
• United States
23 May 19
First, I think they should have been honest about the possible wait time, then offer an appetizer. But they needed to plan better since they knew they had a party reserved.
1 person likes this
@Hate2Iron (15730)
• Canada
24 May 19
I definitely hope that they learned something from this!!
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (79998)
• United States
23 May 19
I totally agree with you. Sitting there for so long would not only have made me hungrier but I probably would get angry. They should have brought you something while you waited for your meal.
1 person likes this
@Hate2Iron (15730)
• Canada
24 May 19
I tried really hard not to show how I was starting to feel because the poor waitress was run off of her feet. Now the owners... a different story!
