sullim4 Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 I'm curious to get feedback on this, and to know if I'm being reasonable or not. I took the wife out to dinner for her birthday at one of the nicer steakhouses out here - the kind of place where a $300 dinner for two is typical. We both ordered filets with identical temperatures - medium rare. When the steaks arrived, hers was significantly underdone in comparison to mine - mine was perfect while hers was blue rare. We let the waiter know, and he sent it back to the kitchen and they reheated the steak. Obviously, when you throw a rested steak back on the grill and re-serve, it's not going to be anywhere near as good as it would have been had they cooked it properly the first time. Since it hadn't rested, it started losing moisture and the overall texture was rubbery, particularly in comparison to the steak on my plate. It was nowhere near worth the $65 they charged. Would you expect some kind of goodwill gesture on the bill or not? We didn't get one. I can't remember ever asking for compensation in a restaurant; I usually let the restaurant decide, and simply do not return if I feel like they haven't done the right thing. I didn't say anything here and am not planning on returning. But, I'm wondering if my expectations are too high here given the caliber of the restaurant and the particular situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 What do I know but here goes. You should have gotten some sort of goodwill or the steak for free had you said something. No restaurant is going to do anything other than apologize and re-fire an underdone steak. In a place like that if they are worth their salt (and many of these places are) had you voiced your compliant they very well may have kissed your ass. So here's my advice: () Speak up next time. B word to the people that can do something about it not a bunch of yahoos on a message board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mead107 Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Did you complain about it being worse when they brought it out? Ask for the manager? What place? Have had great service at black and blue and Mortons. Manager cane to table to check Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T&C Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Ask yourself.. what would Trump do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgewaycynic2013 Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 In a good restaurant I would hope that they would take the initiative to make some sort of amends for the error at the time of the meal. As the customer, I don't know if I want to make the evening uncomfortable for my party, the waiter, the surrounding diners, etc. by kvetching to the manager. In this day and age where the pretzel vendor has a website and an email address, I would probably be firing up an email to the restaurant once home, after quietly letting them know they'll be hearing from me when paying the bill. The only catch there is you'll probably be given a discount on the next visit. As you stated, do you even want to try that establishment again? 5 minutes ago, T&C said: Ask yourself.. what would Trump do? Run right into the kitchen? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mead107 Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 13 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said: In a good restaurant I would hope that they would take the initiative to make some sort of amends for the error at the time of the meal. As the customer, I don't know if I want to make the evening uncomfortable for my party, the waiter, the surrounding diners, etc. by kvetching to the manager. In this day and age where the pretzel vendor has a website and an email address, I would probably be firing up an email to the restaurant once home, after quietly letting them know they'll be hearing from me when paying the bill. The only catch there is you'll probably be given a discount on the next visit. As you stated, do you even want to try that establishment again? Run right into the kitchen? If you don't speak up and B word how would they know you did not like the meat when it came back out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgewaycynic2013 Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 I didn't make it clear that the waiter would hear me politely make the point this wasn't acceptable. The ball would be in the restaurant's court to attempt to make things right. If things weren't settled, then on to my plan of letting them know they would be hearing from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBill Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 I am very cautious about returning food at a restaurant. I agree with chef Jim you should have said more to the waiter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 (edited) 31 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said: I didn't make it clear that the waiter would hear me politely make the point this wasn't acceptable. The ball would be in the restaurant's court to attempt to make things right. If things weren't settled, then on to my plan of letting them know they would be hearing from me. Im not sure what you’re saying. Did the waiter overhear you tell your wife it was unacceptable or did you tell him. No restaurant in the world is going to make amends for an undercooked steak. Apologize? Yes. Make amends? No. Had you told them the steak was terrible after the re-fire then yes. But I’m not sure you made it clear to the right person. 28 minutes ago, JR in Pittsburgh said: I would have handled it the same way and wouldn’t have gotten anything either. I sometimes find making a stink to be just irritating and I usually make the decision to just blast them on yelp and then not come back. Blast them on Yelp because of one bad meal out of a hundred or more that came out of the kitchen that night?? This is the reason why Yelp sucks. Politely telling a manager you’ve not enjoyed your meal and why is not making a stink. Edited March 1, 2018 by Chef Jim 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sullim4 Posted March 1, 2018 Author Share Posted March 1, 2018 28 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said: In a good restaurant I would hope that they would take the initiative to make some sort of amends for the error at the time of the meal. As the customer, I don't know if I want to make the evening uncomfortable for my party, the waiter, the surrounding diners, etc. by kvetching to the manager. In this day and age where the pretzel vendor has a website and an email address, I would probably be firing up an email to the restaurant once home, after quietly letting them know they'll be hearing from me when paying the bill. The only catch there is you'll probably be given a discount on the next visit. As you stated, do you even want to try that establishment again? This is basically my point. This place is widely considered to be the best steakhouse in the region - they sell Japanese A5 wagyu for those who want to pay for it. Hell, they rent out storage space in their wine cellar if you want to cellar your own bottles of wine there to drink on future trips if the 45 page wine list doesn't tickle your fancy. A steakhouse like that should know better than to charge full price on a steak that needed to be re-fired because of an error in the kitchen. It's not like it was sent back because I didn't know what "medium rare" means. They had two identical cuts ordered with identical temperatures staring them in the face, with one clearly underdone. They know that the quality of a re-fired steak will not match a high-end price point. They said they'd take care of it. I guess I am saying that I rarely send food back, and in the rare circumstance that I do, the restaurant usually goes the extra mile to make it right, particularly the "good" ones. Based on what chef is saying, it seems that most high end steakhouses view it as acceptable to put a prepared steak back on the grill after it's sat around for 5-10 minutes resting and on the customer's plate and still charge full price unless you put up a big stink about it. Now I know this for next time :). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 1 hour ago, T&C said: Ask yourself.. what would Trump do? Buy the place, fire everybody, hire better staff, and send out a self congratulatory Tweet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snafu Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 I'm not sure about anything else in this thread, but you kept the good piece for yourself, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misterbluesky Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 1 hour ago, sullim4 said: I'm curious to get feedback on this, and to know if I'm being reasonable or not. I took the wife out to dinner for her birthday at one of the nicer steakhouses out here - the kind of place where a $300 dinner for two is typical. We both ordered filets with identical temperatures - medium rare. When the steaks arrived, hers was significantly underdone in comparison to mine - mine was perfect while hers was blue rare. We let the waiter know, and he sent it back to the kitchen and they reheated the steak. Obviously, when you throw a rested steak back on the grill and re-serve, it's not going to be anywhere near as good as it would have been had they cooked it properly the first time. Since it hadn't rested, it started losing moisture and the overall texture was rubbery, particularly in comparison to the steak on my plate. It was nowhere near worth the $65 they charged. Would you expect some kind of goodwill gesture on the bill or not? We didn't get one. I can't remember ever asking for compensation in a restaurant; I usually let the restaurant decide, and simply do not return if I feel like they haven't done the right thing. I didn't say anything here and am not planning on returning. But, I'm wondering if my expectations are too high here given the caliber of the restaurant and the particular situation. Why is it..the bride always has the issues (tee hee)? Anyway..things happen,I would write a e-mail to the owner to get the situation corrected..you don't know who screwed things up..May have been your server..kitchen help..? I wouldn't be so quick to judge...was it very busy that night?If so..odds are the head of the kitchen did not prepare her filet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augie Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 My experience is that by telling them they got it wrong means they are on notice. A place that makes amends I will forgive (once). A place that does not hurts itself far more than it hurts me. I can afford a throw away meal, They go out of business. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misterbluesky Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 1 hour ago, Chef Jim said: What do I know but here goes. You should have gotten some sort of goodwill or the steak for free had you said something. No restaurant is going to do anything other than apologize and re-fire an underdone steak. In a place like that if they are worth their salt (and many of these places are) had you voiced your compliant they very well may have kissed your ass. So here's my advice: () Speak up next time. B word to the people that can do something about it not a bunch of yahoos on a message board. Nope..we all have good and bad happen when fine dining..years ago we went to the old Friars Table on Cleveland Dr....it was always rock solid until our last visit..they closed soon after.they claimed to have a new chef...the "chef" turned out to be a relative of the family who was nothing more than a fry guy with a criminal background.I ain't no Burger King fella..so don't jump the gun and call folks on here yahoos... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 10 minutes ago, Misterbluesky said: Nope..we all have good and bad happen when fine dining..years ago we went to the old Friars Table on Cleveland Dr....it was always rock solid until our last visit..they closed soon after.they claimed to have a new chef...the "chef" turned out to be a relative of the family who was nothing more than a fry guy with a criminal background.I ain't no Burger King fella..so don't jump the gun and call folks on here yahoos... I have no idea what this post has to do with my post other than the yahoos mention. There is no gun jumping by me calling this board a bunch of yahoos. And I mean that I’m an endearing way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misterbluesky Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 2 minutes ago, Chef Jim said: I have no idea what this post has to do with my post other than the yahoos mention. There is no gun jumping by me calling this board a bunch of yahoos. And I mean that I’m an endearing way. Here's the bottom line..the OP asked for advice about a issue that he had when he was out fine dining..I spend well and often at "nice" places..what I suggested was a not so verbose way of dealing with the issue..it's simple..take a pic of your "bill"..number included for date and time reasons and explain your issue in type.If they feel the staff was at fault...any well known,established place would be willing to compensate you for your lack of satisfaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed83HOF Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 This is what you should expect: 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augie Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Yelp can be a source of great humor! It may be meaningful with hundreds of reviews balancing out, but the “they didn’t have as many vegan offerings as they should”, or “my server forgot we were there for my hubbies birthday” can get annoying. People with agendas....even more annoying. You are NOT the only people on the planet. You are entitled to an opinion, and we are entitled to ignore it and make fun of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Fan Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 (edited) I guess you could have taken it out on the tip. For $300 18% is around $55 I think. Could have just left a few dollars if the service was that poor Edited March 1, 2018 by Another Fan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts