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| - I haven't removed my original 5-star review of Hanny's, replacing it with this 1-star, because I nabbed the first-to-review for it and don't feel like giving that up. But let me be absolutely clear: going to Hanny's is most definitely a 1-star experience, for reasons I will describe below. When I write a one-star review on Yelp, it means the following: I will not come here again unless I really have to (e.g., some pre-planned organizational event beyond my control). I will refuse to recommend anyone that I know to come here. I will refuse to suggest this as a venue for any event for any of the organizations I belong to. And I will tell everyone that I know, whenever it comes up, that Hanny's is a horrible place to spend any part of your evening.
Seated at a large table with about 10 or 15 people one recent night, a friend and I ordered a beer each. Everyone else ordered various drinks and some snacks, and a pizza or two, as well. After 5 or 10 minutes, everyone else had gotten our drinks but the two of us. Though this is a bit annoying, it's nothing to write home about and not a big deal. Another 5 minutes later, the pizzas came out, which we weren't eating.
But, still no beers.
Another 5 minutes later (about 20 minutes after we'd ordered them), a third friend of ours who had noticed our beer-less selves got irritated on our behalf and decided to complain to our waiter. Yes, she did so in a somewhat stern manner. But she was not rude, and she did not speak with a raised voice. She was just to-the-point, and spoke in a manner that was commensurate with the unacceptably slow service we were being provided.
A waiter who receives a complaint like this has a choice in how to respond. I dare say that the professional response, especially when (as is the case here) the customer actually IS right and the service actually HAS been unacceptably slow, is to say, "Ma'am, you're right, and I am so sorry. We've just been backed up and I will bring them out pronto." That would be the end of the story, right?
Alternatively, you could stare back at the customer with a hostile look, and then defiantly declare with a rude and aggressive tone of voice, "Yeah, I'll get them, but as you can see we had a lot of food to bring out." Which is what happened. So, Excuse me? Our friend looked back and returned the favor, "I don't really care what your logistical problems are. I'm just pointing out that they don't have their drinks and they've been waiting for 20 minutes." The response: "Yeah, I heard you the first time." He then sulked off.
That wasn't the end of it. Playing some sort of passive-aggressive game with the two of us, this waiter deliberately made us sit for an additional 5 or 10 minutes before finally bringing out our beers. He then refused to come back to our table again, even when new people joined our party and wanted to order a drink. (We wound up advising them to go directly to the bar to order, since we were being actively boycotted.) When he finally did bring us our drinks, I waited to see if an apology would accompany (keep in mind that the two of us had actually remained silent while all this was going on, since our other friend had decided to take on the service problem.) I was completely stunned to hear a wall of silence. I had done or said nothing to this man at all, other than politely order a glass of beer from him 25 minutes earlier. He could not muster up a simple, "Sorry about that, guys."
Did I mention that this wasn't a busy night, so we were one of only a few groups they had to service at the time?
As our table talked about what just happened, I learned that others have experienced this behavior from the staff in the past. And it actually has been to this level of deep and open hostility by waiters (I assume the same one). This doesn't shock me. There is no way a waiter or manager would become so emboldened to behave this way in front of customers he doesn't even know, unless it's part of a pattern. This wasn't just "having a bad night," which I let go all the time when I occasionally encounter it in restaurants. It was something deeper than that.
Not only does the rudeness appall me, but so does the sheer incompetence of not realizing how widespread word-of-mouth can be when you attack a group of customers like us. How does this waiter know who we are? Maybe some of us are long-time residents of downtown Phoenix, who have lived there for years and know a lot of people? Maybe our voices, here on Yelp and among our very large social circles, are highly influential and can have a direct impact on a restaurant's revenues? Did he consider that before deciding to attack us? Nope.
Karl Kopp, the owner of Hanny's, needs to have a serious talk with whoever is managing this restaurant. In the meantime, my opinion that I will loudly and frequently proclaim to everyone I know will remain unchanged, unless and until I receive a personal apology for this incident. I'm not holding my breath.
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