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| - I don't even know where to start. I've wanted so badly to love this place. I will say mostly the food has been lovely.
It's the service. They just... don't... get... service.
Tonight, for example, I've had poor service in their lounge area before, but ... wow. The girl waitressing in the lounge area was horrible (ignoring us when we first sat down, snippy answers to our questions, constantly having to ask to order something, we did not feel welcome at all. She was busy but you can't be rude to people! My friend with us, who is nearly a sommelier in her training, politely asked to taste two wines before deciding on a bottle and was told "she only got one more" chance. And when my husband ordered a martini but had some terminology wrong, and then we asked her about it to check, she said with a laugh-- I'm not making this up-- "whoever told you that was wrong... or must just be really, really stupid".
Speechless, we moved to the bar. The bartender at the bar seemed really on it, and at least was nice, and we got a round.
But here's the kicker... Then we wanted a table to have a proper dinner. We walked over to the host stand and asked about getting a table. She said it would be at least 50 minutes. We looked around the restaurant and saw 3/4 of the booths were empty, so we were confused. We asked again, and she said again there were no tables available until 7:15. (It was 6:25)
I then got on my OpenTable app on my phone and **within 10 seconds booked a table for 4 to be seated immediately.** And the app also showed many other times available for a party of 4... not only 6:30 but 6:45, 7pm, etc. We couldn't believe it.
So we walked over to the host stand again and said we had just made a reservation for four for right NOW... 6:30. She looked surprised. I then asked how that was possible she didn't "know" they had open tables. She said oh the systems don't talk to each other, blah blah - but we couldn't really get a straight answer. She just kept saying different things that didn't make sense. And no apology at all or sense of sympathy or anything. It was pretty defensive.
So they were going to make a party of 4 who had already spent $200+ WAIT 45 minutes to fill one of the empty tables in the restaurant. And were "saving" open tables for nonexistent customers booking via an app and who in theory may not even show up.
I don't know what's scarier... Whether she was going to make us wait on purpose, or if their systems are that messed up and the hosts aren't allowed to use their own judgement and say "that doesn't make sense here -- let me help you get a table right away -- we'd love to have you, please hold on a minute"
When we did sit down the food was *quite good* but took over an hour to get our basic entrees. The scallops were fantastic. My friends' steaks were OK. We had to ask for our table candles to be lit (it was well after sundown and very dark) and then they burnt out within two minutes so we asked for new ones. It was one thing after another. Drinks took a while each time as well.
I was thrilled they did offer us a free round of drinks due to the delay. And I will say our server Andre was wonderful and really tried, but...
This place just boggles the mind. It's a stunning environment, just gorgeous, and they have a fantastic wine list and good food. The location is a no-brainer -- you really have to screw up this deal. But time and time again, the service is simply catastrophic. We keep talking about what a goldmine this would be if they could simply get their act together. It doesn't even need to be stellar. Just acceptable. Just treat the people in your restaurant like they are actually humans and guests and fulfilling your pay checks. Be nice and happy and helpful and apologize when things go wrong. We don't expect perfection. We just want to know you care. We even want to just know you WANT us to be there. It will go a long way.
We have tried several times and are never, ever coming back. This was it. I'm sorry Tanzy. We wanted to love you.
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