If you look at my profile, I only leave positive reviews. I don’t waste time giving negative reviews but, for this I will. I'll start by saying this was a simple mistake made by a very young busboy and was handled with complete incompetence. It was a thoroughly bad business move. I've been in the bar & restaurant industry for 25 years and I've also enjoyed dining (from mom & pop shops to fine dining) for just as long. This was by far the worst experience I've ever had. EVER. Thoroughly insulting & frustrating.
7/23 (yes, over a month ago) I went to the lobster pound in Red Hook. I'm from Philadelphia & I stay at my friends apartment next to the Red Hook Lobster Pound. I go there for a meal every time I stay in NYC.
After barely being noticed while waiting for a table (sitting on the hostess bench with 2 small dogs for 10 minutes) I finally got seated outside. I order, having a casual meal and doing some work at my table. Midway through, I got up to walk my dogs to the tree in front of the dry cleaners next door. I had a piece of work on the table, HALF of my $26 lobster salad and my full tote bag on my chair. I was literally chitchatting with 2 people who were waiting for a table. When I returned, my salad was gone. I told the waitress, she looked shocked and said the busboy must have taken It.
Here’s where it gets good. Instead of just replacing the damn salad (which is EXACTLY what good customer service would do) they let me sit for a good ten minutes. The waitress tells me they are trying to figure it out with the manager. Then says I should have told them I would be away from the table! WHY?! I don’t report to a server when I go to the bathroom and I wasn’t away from the table longer than I would've been if I had. PLUS, I HAD PERSONAL ITEMS ON THE TABLE ALONG WITH HALF OF MY MEAL!
When they finally brought me a HALF salad to replace my food, I thought was VERY TACKY but, I accepted it. I waited a few minutes since she gave me no knife, just fork to eat. When I realized the server wasn't coming back, I figured I'd just try to eat. That’s when I became livid. From a $26 salad to a half salad with one piece of lobster on top- SUPER INSULTING. I don’t care if they did think I ate that much, it’s BAD BUSINESS! REPLACE THE FOOD, COMP THE CHECK. BE BETTER!!!
After asking to speak to a manager, she arrives at my table looking confused. Why? She asked if I wanted the food wrapped to go, I said, absolutely not! She told me they were very busy (and ?) and that maybe next time I should tell someone if I step away from my table. I asked her if she thought I should tell them if I went to the bathroom. Both her and the server thought it was appropriate to say this to me. I had items at my table. I was not gone. Did they think I beat the bill? It doesn't make sense. In The end THEY MADE THE MISTAKE AND TRIED TO BLAME ME. They acted as if I was trying to get over on them. Incredibly rude & incompetant staff. I told her I would pay half and that’s what I did. I even tipped the lousy waitress who never asked me how my food was, skipped Over me when I was waiting to be seated & didn’t bring me a knife for my food. But she is working and I couldn’t not. But, I should've paid nothing. I should've been treated with respect. A small mistake could've just been fixed by replacing my food. That is an industry standard procedure. Food gets taken off checks and replaced for much less. That's not even how I operate, I just know how it's done.
Icing on the cake, when I emailed the owner to talk to her (I sat on it a week and was still upset) She said She would call me and never did. Gave me a window of hours and just didn't call. How bout this, I wrote notes so I wouldn't waster HER time, so I would know exactly what I wanted to say. Guess what I wound up using the note for..thats right, this. It's taken me a minute to get to this but, I wanted to be heard. My money is hard earned. Maybe some people don't care about throwing their money around but, I’m a woman of color and have worked extremely hard for every penny I have. I’ll NEVER give them 2 red cents again and bet, I’ll tell everyone I know not to go their either. There's nothing I want, I wanted to be heard. They couldn't even do that.
FYI, staff also continuously sits on my friends front step smoking, leaving butts and after being asked repeatedly to not do this (The smoke blows into his bedroom window) they still do it, manager included. Bad management.