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#Post#: 3157--------------------------------------------------
Dealing with restaurant incompetence
DIR By: Hmmm
Date: May 22, 2018, 4:23 pm
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I actually dislike referring to it as incompetence but I can't
come up with a better word.
So a new fast casual Indian/Taco restaurant (counter order)
opened near us and DH and I went for lunch. DH can not eat
anything with onions. I order my taco, a burrito style item we
will split, and DH orders a taco. I state no onions on anything.
She asked if that includes pico and I say yes. She asks so just
tomatoes. I say yes. I then also order 2 fountain drinks and a
side order of corn. She asks so just one fountain drink. I say
no, 2. I see her punch that in and so I say and we'd like an
order of corn and I see her punch more buttons. She gives us our
cups for the drinks and DH goes to get our drinks. I confirm
again that the "tomatoes" do not have onions and she said, no it
will just be tomatoes (I've spent my adult life watching my
husband disassemble food and remove diced onions so I am very
careful) . She give me the total and I pay. We do notice that
they are busy filling a really large order so we do expect it to
take a little bit of time.
Manager brings out our tacos and says he is bringing out our
burrito type item. DH immediately sees diced onions on his taco
and starts trying to pick them out. Manager comes back with
burrito and I say, the taco's weren't to have onions and does
the burrito also. He says yes and takes DH's taco and the
burrito back to make new. I go ahead and eat my taco (I'm not
completely anti onions) and it was really good. DH and I discuss
how we could take the previously made taco home to our son for
lunch so I go and tell the manager that instead of throwing that
away, I will pay for it and take one to son. He says, no, he'll
make a new one for him. There is much apologizing.
The woman who took our order brings out DH's taco and the shared
burrito. I ask if she'll be bringing the street corn and see a
deer in the headlights. She comes back and says it wasn't on our
order and she must not had heard me order it but would go ahead
and have some made for us.
DH and I agree the burrito is good and DS would like it so I go
to the counter and order another to go. The manager takes the
order, apologizes several times and I dismiss with a "oh, it was
obvious you guys were overwhelmed with such a large takeout
order" and he describes the complexity of that order to me.
Another employee remarks they are making the corn for us now. I
say thank you, thinking they are giving it to us complimentary
(we are now done eating). But then the manager says he'll just
add the cost to this order. DS doesn't like corn, so I almost
say "oh no never mind" but I can see they are actually plating
up the order of street corn for us. So I let him process the
order for the corn and the burrito. We eat about a 1/3 of the
corn as we are waiting on the burrito. (Only 2.50 so not a huge
investment).
So... after all of that. How would you have addressed the
issues? Would you have not paid for the corn? Would you have
expected some type of compensation for the missteps?
#Post#: 3159--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dealing with restaurant incompetence
DIR By: SioCat
Date: May 22, 2018, 4:41 pm
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If they were quick to bring out the replacement items, I
wouldn't expect compensation. I can't fault the cashier for not
hearing you say you wanted corn. She probably should have read
your order back to you and you probably should have checked your
receipt.
#Post#: 3160--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dealing with restaurant incompetence
DIR By: Hmmm
Date: May 22, 2018, 4:49 pm
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She did not read the order back. And she did offer a receipt but
I normally refuse if I "think" they have it right at restaurants
because it's just a waste of paper.
It was about 10 minutes from them bringing the first out to the
replacement items out. About the same time you'd expect for your
original order at fast casual. They definitely did not bump his
replacement order up in the order. They filled all the orders of
the existing patrons first (and completed the massive grubhub
order), then DH's replacement, and then started on other patrons
orders.
#Post#: 3161--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dealing with restaurant incompetence
DIR By: caroled
Date: May 22, 2018, 4:52 pm
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I agree. Also, after dismissing the flaws with an
acknowledgement that you saw how busy they were, he may have
taken that as a sign that you were OK with the wait time and the
mistakes. Being that they are a recent establishment, there will
be some kinks to work out, and unless it is specifically stated
before hand, I wouldn't assume that any part of the order is
gratis. Glad you found a new place to enjoy ;D
#Post#: 3174--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dealing with restaurant incompetence
DIR By: Luci
Date: May 22, 2018, 5:49 pm
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Yes, I would have expected some of the bill to be adjusted, and
you can be nice and still get that. I would be like you and not
have pushed it, either.
We have a plethura of Mexican restaurants around here, so I
would simply not go back again for a couple of years.
When we lived in Small Town I remember going a year without
Mexican food because the one in town was not satisfactory and we
were never traveling in the right place at the right time to go
elsewhere.
#Post#: 3195--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dealing with restaurant incompetence
DIR By: Bada
Date: May 22, 2018, 10:27 pm
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They lost a good opportunity for goodwill, for sure. But perhaps
their profit margin is narrow and they couldn't spare it? I'd
be annoyed that they didn't move my order up (the re-made one)
and probably wouldn't go back for another 6-ish months to see if
it got better.
#Post#: 3222--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dealing with restaurant incompetence
DIR By: imc
Date: May 23, 2018, 8:17 am
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Making either the corn or the last burrito complimentary would
have been a nice gesture... not for forgetting to put the corn
in the first order but for messing your whole first order after
you had repeatedly stated you didn’t want a specific ingredient
in there.
But it was simply something the manager might have done and we
don’t even know if he even has the authority to give freebies.
It wasn’t something you were entitled to: in the end you got
everything you paid for, how you wanted it, despite the wait.
It’s a new place. They’re bound to mess up. Fixing messes with
freebies is a good marketing strategy. But giving feeebies right
after the first, huge investment in a new business is maybe not
the best idea, financially.
On the other hand, in this framework I don’t know if there’s any
way you could have phrased your suggestion of getting a freebie
in a polite way. So letting the issue go was the best choice,
IMO.
If the food was good, I’d give them a couple more chances OP.
Maybe give them a few weeks to get properly settled and see if
they become more efficient. If they don’t “vote with your feet”.
#Post#: 3236--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dealing with restaurant incompetence
DIR By: Miki
Date: May 23, 2018, 10:10 am
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I think it would have been nice for them to offer something,
especially as a new business wanting to attract customers. But
that same issue also provides an excuse for the mistakes.
One thing that surprised me a bit is they agreed to make the
pico without onions. This is pre-made, so I'm curious if they
planned to pick the onions out themselves, or made a small batch
without them.
I wonder because I can barely be in the same room with cumin,
let alone eat it. I was at a Mexican place a couple months
ago, and I asked if there was cumin in the ranchero sauce. They
said no. When it arrived, I almost puked, lol. I told them
that it can be risky to guess wrong, and it turned out they used
a spice packet that didn't list all ingredients.
#Post#: 3244--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dealing with restaurant incompetence
DIR By: Jayhawk
Date: May 23, 2018, 10:47 am
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Sounds like they're new and perhaps don't have a lot of
restaurant experience. If the food was good, I'd wait a few
weeks and give them another try. If they continue with the same
issues, I wouldn't go back after that.
#Post#: 3251--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dealing with restaurant incompetence
DIR By: Hmmm
Date: May 23, 2018, 11:30 am
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I wasn't bothered enough by the issues to not go back and
immediately wrote a very positive review about their food on a
public foodie group I belong to. Their spicy paneer taco was
really, really good. I'm pretty patient with new places opening
and it was apparent they were not staffed to deal with the size
of tack out order they were working on. But being a new place I
completely understand why they wouldn't turn down such a large
order for a local business.
I think it was more of the fact when the girl came back to tell
us the corn wasn't on the order but they were making us some so
we could try it, I assumed that it was complimentary and really
thought she was going to bring us out a small sampling. She
didn't ask if we still wanted it She had no way to know we would
be doing a take out order so would be able to charge us for it.
I was more curious if anyone would have said no to the corn once
you realized you'd be charged for it.
--- Quote from: Mikayla link ---
>
> I think it would have been nice for them to offer something,
especially as a new business wanting to attract customers. But
that same issue also provides an excuse for the mistakes.
>
> One thing that surprised me a bit is they agreed to make the
pico without onions. This is pre-made, so I'm curious if they
planned to pick the onions out themselves, or made a small batch
without them.
>
> I wonder because I can barely be in the same room with cumin,
let alone eat it. I was at a Mexican place a couple months
ago, and I asked if there was cumin in the ranchero sauce. They
said no. When it arrived, I almost puked, lol. I told them
that it can be risky to guess wrong, and it turned out they used
a spice packet that didn't list all ingredients.
>
--- End Quote ---
On the question about the pico, items were made at the counter
so I could see a container of diced onions and a container of
pico (mostly tomatoes with a little bit of onions) which is why
I clarified again that the "just tomatoes" would be just
tomatoes. And she said yes, they'd dice up some on the side.
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