Our Appetizer.: Customer Service these days...

March 27, 2014

Customer Service these days...

This post starting today while at lunch, literally a few minutes ago. I work in downtown Cleveland and we have endless choices of where to go for lunch. Normally, we try to pick new places to go eat so today we went to Bar Louie downtown since it's just a walk from the office. I've been here plenty of times and every time it's been a fairly positive experience. Every time but this time that is...and I probably won't be returning to this location anytime soon (that's a nice way of saying never again).



This is what my lunch a Blackberry, Orange & Brie which was made with mixed greens, brie, oranges, blackberries, pecans, bacon, basil and bacon vinaigrette. It's a great looking salad, right? Take a closer look....


I might be blind, but do you see blackberries? The only fruit I see on here are oranges and raspberries...not blackberries. Let me remind you, the salad is called a BLACKBERRY, orange and brie salad...

When the server came over to ask how everything was, I pointed out to him that my salad didn't have any blackberries but it did have some raspberries. He said, and I quote, "ummmmmm yeaaaaaa, I'll tell the cook about that, I hope he doesn't punch me in the face." and then he walked away before I could say anything else. Well according to people I was at the table with, the server didn't say a work to the cook. 

I'm not one to complain while at restaurants, I just wanted to point out that the salad was made incorrectly and missing an ingredient that was in the title of the salad. The server didn't care and his reaction was terrible. He basically looked at me like I was stupid or that he didn't know what raspberries were. 

Now don't get me wrong, I've had some awesome customer service before. I have also worked in the retail and restaurant industry before and I would try to make the customers happy, because without them coming back what do you have?

How do you feel about complaining in a restaurant?
What happens if your dish comes out wrong?
How do you feel about customer service these days?

16 comments:

  1. I hate complaining at a restaurant for the reason that I am scared they will spit in my food or something. But I have no problem with writing a lengthy email to their corporate offices or their websites etc. Once I went to a Buca di beppo the pasta was overcooked and to top it off the waiter spilled my glass of water all over my mother and I (and a tiny speck on my iphone). Granted it was on accident but no real apology or offer of a free meal or dessert. And to make it worse after that incident it felt like the waiter never came to check on us. My sis ended up writing an email to their corporate and we were sent a gift card to give them another chance. Which we did but weren't impressed. It is sad how customer service has fallen thru the cracks at some places.

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    1. Oh my gosh! The server spilled water all over you and your mom!? The worst part is that he didn't apologize or bring the manager over to mend the problem. I was so disappointed today with the service, the guy looked at me like I was an idiot. But I will agree with you, I choose not to complain so nothing bad happens to my food.

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  2. That's crazy! Although the salad still looks pretty delicious but they're definitely false advertising :-/

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    1. It looks tasty in the picture but not so much in real life. I was disappointed at the way the server handled the problem. And about half of the lettuce was welted. Oh well, I know better for next time.

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  3. I am shocked that the salad wasn't called something that had shrimp in the title. And I hate bad customer service, if it is really bad I say something, even though there is usually nothing done! But props to you for putting this out there and I guess at least now you know not to go back and hopefully others will too!

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    1. I added shrimp to it, I felt it needed some sort of protein. And yes, I will never return to that Bar Louie or maybe even any Bar Louie.

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  4. I am always called the bitch of my friends because if something is wrong with my food or whatever it is that i PAID for, I am gonna speak up. I won't be rude if they simply made a mistake, but if you give me pork and i asked for chicken? I'm going to say something. One time I got a soup and I hated it, so i asked if I could have something different and my friend said that I was crazy for doing that?!

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    1. I agree 100%. If I order a dish off the menu then I should receive what I ordered. And my problem wasn't that he didn't bring me blackberries because that wasn't the point. My problem was how he handled it and the comment he made about getting punched in the face, very unprofessional.

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  5. This is my biggest pet peeve. I hate bad service. I also hate complaining so usually I just don't say anything. Once I had hair in my good and when I complained the waitress said "that's part of the batter" and argued!

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    1. Oh my gosh! You have to be kidding me. I probably would have talked to the manager and then walked out. That is terrible. I'm not one to complain if I ordered something and I received what I ordered but I didn't like it. I complain when I didn't get what I ordered or if there is hair in my dish...that's gross.

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  6. I hate when they put ingredients on the menu that aren't in your actual salad when you order it... it happens a lot (or it happens to me a lot lol) and it drives me crazy! If you don't have it, don't put it in the menu!
    Lovely blog, btw :) x

    Lottie | Little Once Upon a Time

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    1. I agree! If they didn't have blackberries I should have been informed before ordering the salad. Thanks for stopping by :)

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  7. I hate complaining at restaurants for fear of them spitting all over my food...but I definitely don't think it was wrong AT ALL to mention the missing KEY ingredient. Sometimes when I have bad customer service I try to remind myself that maybeeee they might be having a bad day...but sometimes there are just no excuses!

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    1. I hate complaining because of the same fear as you. The servers' response was just uncalled for. I mean don't servers get trained these days!? I know when I worked in a restaurant, we could never say comments like that.

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  8. That is insanity. I would have been super upset about this because I don't like raspberries but I love blackberries. Working in a pub, we could NEVER pull that off. We always bring food back to the cook.

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    1. I know there are a lot of places that would never let something like this happen and if it did happen the would have found a better way of correcting the problem. Just so disappointed, oh well I guess.

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