| rev:text
| - You can serve me terrible food.
You can mix me a crappy cocktail.
Your ambiance can fall flat.
You can even charge me more than I want to pay.
But take note Tempest (and really any other business in Madison and beyond) you can't be complacent. I mean you can, but I will not patronize your business nor will I recommend it.
When you turn the lights on, polish flatware and open your doors you are entering into an agreement with those that are coming to spend money that you want their business. But after 4 visits and an event that I unfortunately brought 28 people out for, you have done nothing to make me think you a. want my business, b. care to make money. So I have to ask... why show up to work?
Tonight was the last straw. My friend and I were sitting at the bar for ten minutes before someone came over not to ask us what we wanted to drink or to show us menus, but to stand there. To stand there and look at us blankly until we asked if happy hour was still going on. He said yes and lobbed the conversation back our way, didn't go over the happy hour specials of which there are many. I felt terrible for suggesting we grab light bites and drinks to this friend who had never been to Tempest.
*flash forward*
I'm not eating sugar right now and the brown sugar sauce that tops their scallops is entirely too sweet, so I asked for seared scallops with the bacon lardons that typically top the dish but not the sauce. I explained if the kitchen wasn't interested in accommodating my request and leaving the sauce out, I'd find something else. Surprise, the scallops came out with the cloyingly sweet sauce and this is how the next few moments went:
BARTENDER: Yeah, I said just the scallops and lardons, so maybe they can't separate the lardons from the sauce?
COREY: Ok, well I don't eat sugar, so I can't really eat these, there's no way to get just seared scallops, no sauce?
BARTENDER: I mean, that's what I asked for, so I guess they can't do it. Did you want these?
(I'm sort of fuming at this point)
COREY: No, I mean I can't do the sugar so....
BARTENDER: They'd be on the house.
GO TO THE KITCHEN AND SAY THESE CAME UP WRONG, CAN YOU SIMPLY SEAR SCALLOPS AND PUT BACON ON THEM? What's the challenge here?
*flash forward some more*
Drinks went empty, food was eaten, and it took forever to catch someone's eye to get refills or order more. Why? Because it was more important for a gaggle of servers to talk with the bartenders about what a proper wine pour looks like. I counted 5 at one point staring at the same glass of white wine, then repeating this behavior 15 and 25 minutes later. So detail oriented.
Last up, the gent that cases the joint, a manager I assume, does laps around the restaurant every time I've been there, but never asks how we're doing. And that's really the crux of my issue. I know full well a business can't be 100% "on" 100% of the time, we all have bad days. But when leadership at the top has no vested interest in how people spending hard earned money feel about their establishment, that trickles down, and I want no part of it.
There are plenty of restaurants in town that serve seafood by people who are interested in striking up conversation, making menu recommendations and righting wrongs that may occur when things go awry in the kitchen. I'll go to those places, a giant wooden boat and tea lights don't do it for me.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)