Recently, I posed this question to our Seattle Weekly food panelists: Have you ever broken up with a restaurant? I had my own story to tell alongside theirs; read them all at seattleweekly.com/restaurants. Our readers had a lot to say on this topic too—and here are some of their comments (edited for length). To share your own story, head to the url above.
“A few years after my husband and I got married, we went to a well-known seafood restaurant in Seattle . . . Our waiter was extremely drunk. He forgot bread service, drinks, and more. When he came to get our dinner order, he sat down and was draping on me, with his hand on my thigh. It was just so surreal that my normal attitude was blown away. And they sent out farm-raised salmon. It was obvious. I did complain about that. Last straw: As we were leaving, there was an uneven [floor] (not marked/dark lighting) and my husband ran into it [and] broke his toe. Oy!”
“My family and I have been loyal customers of an Italian restaurant in Seattle for years . . . We dined there on average three times a month with an average tab of $400 with tip. However, three weeks ago we arrived on our usual day and time and did not see our ‘People’ . . . My daughters were soon abuzz because they recognized one of the guests to be a movie-star celebrity who’d recently won an Oscar. Long story short, we dropped off the edge of the earth and were never attended to by the staff until I stood up and demanded our bill for the food we had eaten.”
“As a daughter of a restaurant owner, I have seen so many customers who are also downright rude and condescending . . . Ideally, the manager will take the food off your bill (if of course you haven’t eaten all your food), or offer some sort of 50 percent or a free meal on your next visit. All you need is one bad apple, and everybody loses that privilege. But I completely understand and agree that pleasant service is important. Restaurants should treat their customers like guests in their homes, and customers should treat the restaurant staff like their friends who have invited the customers to dinner or lunch.”
“When dining alone I am particularly aware of the quality/amiability of service . . . Does the host/hostess seat the solo diner facing the back wall or the restrooms? Does the server grab a half-used, fingerprint-covered water jug from the adjacent table and plunk it unceremoniously in front of you, or does s/he bother to bring you a fresh one? When I have politely declined these situations, I often get the eye-rolling treatment from waitstaff. I have genuine sympathy for restaurateurs who get conned by abusive customers, but at the point where they cannot distinguish between abuse and legitimate objection, it’s probably time for them to reconsider their career choice.” E
nsprinkle@seattleweekly.com
