Should we give restaurants a second chance?
I'm pretty cold and normallly would say no. However, I have now been convinced otherwise. Case in point, my first visit to Marliave almost a year ago was dismal. Great staff, great service but over salted food. I had absolutely no interest in going back, my loss!! Today I was in town with a friend who wanted to go to Marliave, so whatever, I complied. It was over the top good, I had the beef wellington, what a treat, cooked as ordered; DC had the rabbit which was delicious. Service was perfect in that he sensed we wanted a leisurely meal. So, my question where have you gone that you didn't love initially, but went back and it was great1
-
hotoynoodle
Dec 25, 2009 07:58 AM
another chance depends on what went wrong the first time. i tend to be more forgiving on food issues than service. consistent food execution has an incredible number of variables and as a restaurant lifer, i get that. if it's mostly ok, i'll go back, however, there is also the factor of perceived value. plenty of folks will order the $18 hot dog at b&g and not bat an eye, while it makes my eyes bleed to even consider it. while the price point at post 390 is low, $15 burgers, $15 mac-n-cheese and $20 linguine/shrimp is so not worth it to me.
but if the service is bad i'm less likely to return, and i can perceive the difference between somebody in the weeds or just plain clueless/rude. it's poor or unconcerned management that doesn't provide good training and constant monitoring. my 1st visit to marliave the bartender was in the dark how to make a negroni. even after i corrected her about not using dry vermouth (!) it still sucked. dragged back recently by a friend, trying to get a drink from an unoccupied bartender was like pulling teeth. i ordered a blind pig, their own recipe. it sucked. i can get perfect cocktails around the corner at silvertone, with great service and food at he same price point. never again.
the service at grotto was embarrassingly bad and the food just didn't add up to all that. also a "once was enough" place.
in this economy, i'm thinking much more judiciously about where i spend my dining-out dinero. i'm also working like a dog and poor service makes me stressed, not relaxed. who needs it?
-
-
I will almost always give a restaurant a second chance, especially early after their opening when things may be in need of ironing out. The only time that I've sworn off a place on one visit was my one time dining at Biba, back in the day. The restaurant had been open for a few years, and consistently got great reviews, so my wife and another couple went there to check it out. We ordered and waited about 30 minutes for apps, not too bad but a bit later than we would have liked. Then we waited, and waited, with nary a look from our server. Tables near us were seated (after we were), got apps, dinner, dessert, and left before our entrees arrived. Queries to our server were answered with half hearted shrugs. A stroll to the maitre'd resulted in more shrugs, and a half assed explanation that they "had a new menu that week", I responded that it seemed to only be an issue with our table, and that I felt we should be served soon. Finally after a nearly 2 hour wait our food arrived. Two of the four entrees were cold, with congealed sauces, plates that should have never left the kitchen. We asked to speak to the manager, who mysteriously had "left for the night", and the maitre'd looked at me like I stunk, and offered us a free dessert. Not free desserts for the table, ONE free dessert!
I vowed to never go there again, or to give Lydia Shire any of my money again, a promise I kept until this year when my wife booked us a table at Locke Ober. I told her I'd go, but that I was aware that I'd be breaking my cardinal "no Lydia" rule. It may seem harsh, but it was that bad. I can understand a screw up, but it was more the appalling way the staff handled it than anything else. It was also the only time I ever wrote a letter to a restaurant to complain, with of course no response from Biba.
›2 Replies -
-
MC Slim JB
Dec 23, 2009 07:32 PM
I'm forgiving during the shakedown cruise. It's better to avoid new places for the first couple of months, but sometimes you end up going early on, and if it's a little rough, you shouldn't hold that against them like a grudge.
Toro was a place that got off to a slow start for me: I found it uneven, thought the wine list was all out of whack for its purported price point, didn't love the cocktails, just in general had expectations it didn't meet. It has evolved a lot over time, partly through waves of new personnel that changed its character pretty dramatically. I'm a big fan now, though the Coppa talent drain is a concern to me going forward.My bigger problem is with places that start strong but don't maintain a level of consistency over time. My poster child for this is Rocca: veteran team, unique menu concept, food that at its best is wonderful, a beautiful bar and patio. But its consistency of execution has been so wildly variable over a couple of years of regular visits that I've now nearly given up on it in frustration. I'd be happier if it gave me a solid B- every time: instead, it's a B+/A- some visits, a D+ others. Sometimes it's clearly the kitchen screwing up, others a service fiasco. When this happens to you every other time over a stretch of ten visits, it makes it hard to get excited about returning, and almost impossible to recommend to other people.
Nearly every place struggles early. Good ones find a level that they can consistently execute to. Many never find that consistency: a shame, but it seems really hard to do. So I guess I'm very forgiving early on, less so the longer a place is around.
-
Peg, to answer your question, in the price range of a Marliave, I don't do second chances if the food isn't as good as what I can make in my own kitchen. I am simply not in a position to afford either the money or calories. We eat out at this price range about 6 times a year. We want each of those occasions to be special food moments.
-
shaogo
Dec 23, 2009 05:46 PM
When a person or a business fails me, unless it's a horrible transgression, I give them another chance. Yes, once in a blue moon I get "burnt;" disappointed the second time, as well. But more often than not the person/business makes good on the prior bad experience many times over.
Now, as soon as I, personally, become perfect and never make mistakes or stupid errors, then I'll expect the same from everyone else.
To Pegmeister, above: I'd like to know, did you send back the first, salty entree? Or did you say nothing? If you'd sent it back and been disappointed, then that's your cue not to trust them to make a $30+ entree for you on another visit. Also, you say that you're salt-sensitive. I have customers at our restaurant who let us know that they're sensitive to salt, and to tone it down. It's no biggie and ensures that the customer gets what they want. As you know, restaurants tend to salt their food much more than home cooks.
›2 Replies-
re: shaogo
Didn't want this thread to turn into a debate on salt issues. I totally understand this issue with restuarants since I dine out on average 5 nites a week. My point was, were you ever initiallly dissapointed in a restaurant, for whatever reason, and hesitated to give it a second chance? Maybe it's time to rethink that decision.
-
re: Pegmeister
shaogo
Dec 23, 2009 06:28 PM
No debate. Now that I know that you dine out 5 nights a week, that's five chances restaurants -- even those that're your go-to places -- have to over-salt your food. I'm quite sensitive to caramelization gone wrong -- burning. I don't do well with pizza that others find just very well done, for example. I'm often let down by restaurants due to careless cooks who can't get the concept of "golden brown" down pat.
To give a simple answer to your quandary, yes, I've been hesitant about returning to several restaurants. I'm very liberal about giving a place a second chance, but I'm not naive about it. There was a place we'd gone to a couple of times that was wildly inconsistent, food perfectly cooked one visit, and worse than diner food on another. We gave this place a third chance, even. That's five visits, two great but the other three unsatisfactory. Talk about masochistic, huh?
-
-
-
Can't speak for the restaurant you went to, but my opinion is if you form a negative opinion based on one poor dish you had in a restaurant, where otherwise the service and decor were excellent.....you are being short sighted if you do not give it a second chance.....especially if it were a dish that you normally did not order.
I'm always amazed when someone goes to a steakhouse and says the meat was too fatty....although they ordered the Rib Eye......I can understand tough and chewy, but not fatty in such a case...It's pointless to argue or explain to these types.
In your example above, you should have sent the over-salted food for a replacement or other menu item. The only other time I believe it is reasonable to send back food is when the food is over-cooked to death. just because you did not like the way it was prepared is not a cause to send something back.....the exception to this would be if the owner or manager came over and asked if you liked the dish...then I think as a matter of good customer service, he should offer to do something to please you as the patron.
If however, you realize the cooking style of the chef/restaurant is not to your liking.....then I would find it perfectly reasonable not to return.
›2 Replies-
-
re: Pegmeister
P,
I apologize, but I did not mean to imply you specifically, but in general terms. As for salt issues, if anyone is salt sensitive.....I can't understand why they would not announce that when they order and tell the kitchen to be light on on the salt when preparing their meals....It saves everyone from a lot of potential problems and dissatisfaction later.
-
-
