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| - I occasionally eat at Crane Alley and am reasonably satisfied with it. However, tonight I stopped in for a quick beer with my husband and was caught off guard by the poor, if not downright bizarre service.
I ordered a draft session IPA described on the menu as bursting with citrus hops, or something similar to that. What I got was almost completely flavorless and we both thought it tasted a bit on the flat side. I almost never return a drink, but after taking a few sips, I went up to the bar and just expressed my concern that it might be flat because it wasn't at all as described.
Our waiter tasted it and said it seemed normal to him and that it wasn't a flavorful beer, and another server standing nearby just dismissively added that session beers aren't going to be flavorful. Um, thanks for the tip, but I've been drinking craft beers for many years, and some session ales are indeed robust, and more to the point this one in particular was advertised as such. He was polite and there was nothing heated about the exchange, but I wasn't offered a replacement--shocking since that's standard practice in the service industry when someone isn't satisfied with a beverage.
I returned to our table and a short time later when he checked on us, he did apologize that I didn't like the beer and asked if he could do anything for me. When I suggested he get me something different (I had consumed 1/3 of the beer at most by this point), he said he couldn't do it without charging me for a second beer. Are you kidding me? Why did you ask what you could do for me then?
He seemed like a nice kid, but in all my years of being in bars and coffee shops all over Chambana and Chicago, and working in the service industry myself, I've never experienced or witnessed a response like this. If someone is unhappy with their beverage, you get them something else, no questions asked. Go to Sipyard or BarM, where customer service is standard.
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