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Thread: Do you go back?

  1. #1
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Do you go back?

    Right out of the gate, I know that we won't be going back. My husband has a certain tolerance and he's done. It's not important enough to me. But I'm curious about most people. Do you go back?

    We found a local family restaurant that we like. There's a farm attached and a lot of their veg comes off of it. It's not spectacular but we like to go to a late lunch/early dinner after a long day so we became regulars. Everyone was very nice and the experience has always been very pleasant. I should also say that we tip very well.

    Went tonight. It was very busy which is unusual but we put our name on the list. The hostess told us that it would be 5-10 minutes and she would come get us so we went to sit at the bar since there's not really anywhere else to wait. I ordered wine and told the bartender we were waiting for a table.

    From then on, we were ignored. Completely and entirely. The hostess was virtually absent from that point on. The servers started seating tables but I couldn't get their attention. Thirty minutes later, I went over to the hostess station and saw that our name had been crossed off the list five parties before. Three people asked me about the menu, the drink list and for business cards while I was standing there. I had to tell all of them that I didn't work there.

    This is when my husband was done. I chased down the bartender to get our tab. Then they tried to seat us but again, my husband was done. He feels that loyalty should count for something and was offended.

    We're going to walk away. Under similar circumstances, do you go back?

  2. #2
    House Broken kaialeena's Avatar
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    If it is a place I frequently visit, then I might think that it was just an off night for the place and I would most likely go back. I generally like to give places 2 chances before I give up. Unless of course I had a very bad experience, then I probably wouldn't return. Good places can have their off days. It also depends on how the place handles it. If they apologize and acknowledge the situation, I am pretty understanding about it. But I have been to a place before that didn't offer any apology and acted like it was normal for us to wait 30 minutes to get the check after we flagged down 2 people asking for it (it was Dave and Busters, which is why we sat around for so long...because we were going to play games after our meal). In those cases, it's very unlikely I return.

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  4. #3
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    They should have offered to do more than just finally seat you. A free dessert at least, cover your bar tab.

    I dunno. I can see confusion on their part if they were unusually busy. But I do think you should have been offered some compensation. Long time patrons, maybe even a free meal.
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  6. #4
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    Oh dear! We have a few places we like and spend a lot of time in and we joke that we've made the big time when the owner recognizes us by name. We like them well enough that one off night is not likely to deter us from future visits. Even at some of those places we've frequented for > 20 years, the staff can turn over and a new hostess or new bartenders are on the scene who don't know us from a hole in the wall. It wasn't the bartender's job to see you got your table, it was the hostess', so the bartender probably didn't give it another thought. Why the hostess crossed your name off is less clear but could have just been an oversight on an unusually busy night. If they knew you and recognized you, you'd have thought they'd do better.

    We've had people try to claim our spot when our name was called in places where the hostess staff didn't know us. Your husband could develop my husband's technique for not letting the hostess staff forget us, which is to stand directly beside or in front of the hostess stand, staring at them and asking them every few minutes what the status of our wait is. Not that it moves us up on the list but they assuredly do not forget we're waiting. I do not stand anywhere near him when he does this and it's generally in places that are so busy they wouldn't recognize us and wouldn't care even if we came in every week.

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  8. #5
    House Broken jenfarm's Avatar
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    DH is HUGE on customer service. As a previous poster said, it would depend on how the establishment "made up for it." If there was a sincere apology and an reasonable offer to make up for the mishap, then yeah, we would probably give them another shot. If not, DH has been known to make the call to never go back after just one mess up.

    That's such a bummer and I don't blame him for being fussed by it. When you give an establishment enough business to be recognized when you start going back and really enjoy it... and then to be treated like that. Yeah. Man, I'd be upset too. But I'm usually a bit more forgiving than DH in giving the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes it's just a crazy night or something.

    We once stopped going to a local movie theater because of a malfunction that caused a significant movie start delay. We were on a time crunch so we had to leave and ask for a refund and at the customer service desk there was absolutely no apology, no offer to make it right and get us to give them another shot. Just a, "Oh, ok. Here's your refund. Bye." We walked out of there with him saying, "Well, never going back there again," and we didn't. LOL. Ugh. I really liked that movie theater too... We had to drive a bit farther for the next nearest one and it definitely wasn't as convenient.
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  10. #6
    Senior Dog Meeps83's Avatar
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    I wouldn't go back. We've had the same experience with a restaurant. Once you go get that treatment it's hard to get over that experience.


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  12. #7
    Senior Dog Macy's Avatar
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    You said it "was unusual" for them to be that busy. The hostess probably just made a mistake. I would try one more time.

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  14. #8
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Maybe one more try and that's it.

    DH and I refuse to go somewhere where we have to wait to spend our hard earned money. We are never late for a reservation and expect the same from those type of establishments.
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  16. #9
    "Sorry" Woody's Avatar
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    We had a chain open in town and we went to it a few weeks after it opened.

    Short story is that the service was really slow and people that were seated at least 15 minutes after us got their food before us and shocker they ordered the exact same thing as we did. The waitress was argumentative that we ordered something special and I called her out on it and told her that she was the one that screwed up and asked to at least take some responsibility for the mess up.

    We ended up with a gift certificate and I have never and will never step foot in there again.

    My wife and daughter aren't a bull headed as me and have been back several times.
    Thanks Everyone!!

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  18. #10
    Senior Dog Bamps's Avatar
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    Its good to hear im not the only one things like this happen to. What would I do? Complain to the manager and explain exactly why we will not be back.

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