I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

At 5:05 tonight a woman walks in.  

I say hello to her and ask if she has a reservation.

She says hello back and says, yes she does.    

I ask the name, she tells me…I can’t find it. 

I ask the name again, and she tells me suggesting it might be under a different name.

Ultimately, I can’t find the reservation so I ask all the questions:

Did you get a confirmation?

What phone number did you use (sometimes its the wrong date, or time).

Did you enter your credit card information.

And that’s when she says no, she didn’t.  She didn’t feel comfortable doing that. 

Ahhh.  

You clicked on the date and time, started the process, didn’t finish it and now you are here.

I say I’m sorry, if you didn’t enter your credit card you won’t have a reservation.

I assure her that it’s okay, I can get them seated.

And I do.  

Four of them. At table #22. 

And I go back to being a hostess.  

About 16 minutes later, a man who looks like Joel Grey,  appears at my host stand, placing his glass of red wine right in the middle of it.  

He says that he’s here to discuss something with me.

I realize eventually that he’s from table #22.  

He says to me, that he was really put off today, when the reservation system asked for his credit card information.  He assures me that we are losing customers because we are asking for credit card numbers. Most people will be put off by this and he assures me it’s bad for business.

I listen as he continues. 

He dines at the best restaurants in Denver and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati and no one has ever asked for his credit card information, and we ultimately need to stop this practice.

I try to explain why we take credit cards but he shushes me and keeps talking.  

I’m not exaggerating. 

He held up his finger like Diane Wiest in Bullets Over Broadway, and shushed me.  

He assures me that the business we lose by taking credit card information would more than cover the people that no show.  

He tells me that we should just write down the number and tell people our cancellation policy without taking the code and the expiration date.  

I try explain that to ACTUALLY charge people, it’s a financial transaction and I have to have all the information.

He assures me that just threatening to charge them would ensure a contract between the gues and us and they would indeed always show up.  

Finally, he runs out of steam and goes back to his table.

Fast forward an hour or so and Joel Grey appears in front of me again, sans red wine.

He tells me he’s here to apologize.

He had no idea when he entered the establishment, what caliber of restaurant we were.  He thought we were a casual, non-descript restaurant.  He now knows, based on the menu, the prices, the service, and the food, that we are a five-star restaurant.  

He continues, it makes sense for us to take credit cards, considering the caliber of restaurant we are.  

He brings up his favorite restaurant in Denver again, letting me know that they take his phone number and text him the day before, 30 minutes before, and a few minutes before, to remind him that he has a reservation.  

I assure him that if they’d ACTUALLY made a reservation, he’d have had the same experience today.  

And just like that he disappeared again.  

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

Karen

1 Review

9/7/2022

Rude staff/manager/ hostess. $140.00 for their special. the price was never disclosed!!  the steak was thin and tough. When we spoke to our wait staff and asked to speak with a manager, they came to our table and told us the steak was fine! Unbelievable will never eat there again!!    I had no choice but to choose a star to rate this establishment. . I chose one star but really a megative star rating was my first choice.

First, do you think she sees the irony in using the name Karen?  

Second, this is a post by someone who did not eat in our restaurant, and is echoing what they’ve been told without knowing which parts are true and which parts are not true.  

What they are doing is combining two stories that happened on the same day.

I’ll explain.

On Sunday night before the woman who yelled at me at the door had her moment, able 32 told their server that their $160 Wagyu tomahawk ribeye was overcooked.    I assumed they had ordered medium rare, which is most common, but no they had ordered medium.  

I go to the table and say, “hello, my name is Jeff.  I understand that you have a concern about your steak.”

He separates, the steak where he has cut into it and shows me the inside.

It’s a perfect medium.  And it’s only going to get rarer as he gets closer to the bone.  

Perfect.  

Like, I actually looked up a photo of medium when I got home that night to confirm what I knew and it was picture perfect.  Red in the center.  Not pink.  And cooked more through as you got closer to  the outside. 

And here’s the part that sucks.  

We are not going to re-cook your steak if it’s cooked the way you order it.  We are not going to refund your steak if it’s cooked the way you ordered it.  

And unfortunately, I’m the guy who’s going to tell you this. 

I end up being the asshole.  I’m rude.  And arrogant.  And mean.

Because I have to tell them no.

His steak was not cooked wrong.  

But here’s what he had to say about me on his survey:

I ordered the 32oz tomahawk special this evening and ordered it for a medium temperature. My wife ordered the Tbone medium well. It was very obvious that the two orders were somehow flipped and my tomahawk was cooked medium well to well done. I explained the issue to our server and she was fantastic and offered to get the manager. I asked her to confirm that the steak was in fact over cooked and she agreed. I asked the guests from both tables next to us and they agreed that it was clearly over cooked. The manager came to our table and was very rude and short to us. I stated that I had ordered it medium and he scoffed at me and said that is medium in a very dismissive tone. I asked if he was sure and he impatiently said that’s medium. I’ve eaten at this establishment several times and ordered many different cuts of steaks always medium. They were no where’s near as cooked as this steak was. I understand that they were busy and accidents happen but the manner in which the manager treated me was completely unprofessional and rude. I’m more disappointed with his attitude and behavior than anything else. I wasn’t expecting anything but I would expect a much different interaction with a manager. Very disappointed

Here’s the thing.

He separated the steak.  I looked at it and said, I’m sorry sir, but it appears to be medium to me.  

He said and I quote, “well okay then.”

There was no discussion.  He dismissed me.

I didn’t have a tone.

But here’s the kicker.

Guess who was seated at the two top next to him.

Table 33.

Ms. $140 steak.

They commiserated I’m sure on how horrible their experiences were.  

And Miss Karen of Yelp fame, has combined the 2 stories and written a post that is far from factual.  

And this is a first.  I was called a hostess.  I’ll take that as a compliment.  

It makes laugh at how much energy these people have spent on teaching me a lesson.  

So much negativity.  

Yes, I’ve spent time on it as well, but only that you may hear the details.  

Chef couldn’t be bothered when I brought it up today at our meeting.  We literally spent less than 5 seconds on it.  

My friend, who shared the post the woman that did eat with us posted, defended my honor today on her Facebook page.  

It made me quite happy.