oh and i forgot to mention... I did get forwarded this email and other people before me had left comments saying they'd been there and received the same treatment.... so she's not just a whining b!tch

@tomsucks:

Here is the text of the emails.

Hi,

I saw your ad in the city news last week and dined with 8 friends last night. I wanted to pass on some feedback regarding our experience at your restaurant. As someone who has experience in restaurant marketing I applaud your concept of 50% off the total bill - it will certainly get people in the door to try the restaurant. However, if you are going to retain them as regular customers who will not only return to the restaurant but tell all their friends and family to go to your restaurant you need to make the first visit memorable. Here are my suggestions;

1. Staff. We were the only table dining last night so the fact that there was only 1 staff member working should not have been a problem. The waiter was a sweet, friendly guy but he was not properly trained in waiting. He was unable to explain the menu when questioned. He did not regularly check back on the table to take drink orders, he left the menus on the table after we had ordered and didn't bring out the cutlery before dessert arrived. He was obviously a little nervous which didn't help the cause either.

2. Food. The food was good, we enjoyed it but it was not enough and it took far too long to arrive. We had ordered the chef's tapas selection which the waiter said was good. It was good. However, it took over 1 hour to arrive on our table after we had ordered and the dishes that were meant to be served hot were cold by the time they arrived. Also, I would consider paying $36 or so for the size and contents of the platter brought out but if I was paying $55 I would have been very disappointed (in fact I think I would refuse to pay!). I had assumed that the 'chef's tapas selection' would also have included at least a salad and some breads for the price so we didn't order any. After we had devoured the food in a very short time as we were starving we decided not to ask for breads or salad as we assumed they would take too long to arrive also. We actually assumed that the platters brought out were going to be followed by a second platter based on the quoted price on the menu. Really, for $55 I would be expecting that platter to be supplemented by 1 salad, some bread and perhaps some olives, calamari and prawns also. We also ordered dessert (crème brulees and crème caramels) because we were still hungry after the tapas- the crème caramels were okay but the crème brulees were lumpy and inedible. Again, if we were paying $15 each for them we would have been very disappointed. I was disappointed enough paying $7.50 for them. Also, the coffee was brought out after dessert was served and was not good coffee.

3. Value for Money was awful. We ended up paying around $30 per person for our meal which was okay for what we got. However, should we have been paying full price I would not have been happy at all. There simply was not the variety or amount of food served for the money that the menu quoted.

I am afraid that my experience at Casa Flamenco was very disappointing. I am not seeking any recompense here - I think you have a good concept in the restaurant and your website shows you are passionate about what you do. The fact that you are offering diners a 50% discount to try the restaurant out shows that you are keen to attract new customers. I do hope you take my feedback into account and use it constructively to improve your customers' experiences. You are doing the right things in your marketing to attract customers. However, the key is to retain these new customers and keep them and their friends coming back for more. To do this you will need to improve your service levels and your value for money substantially from what my friends and I experienced last night.

Thank you for your time,
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And in reply:
From: casaflamenco_restaurant@hotmail.com
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: RE:
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:50:38 -0500

Dear XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX,

your are an idiot we dont need your feedback.

The article is incorrect as the person is a marketing manager, not a restaurant marketer.

I'm at home and don't have a copy of the email here - will see if I can add some details at work.

In regards to portion size, we picked enough 'banquets for 2' for everyone plus extra. However *everyone* ordered desert as they weren't satiated.

@lemur:

Off the OT a bit, but "Much Better" is an understatement. I watched all of the US S1, defended it a bit, then went and watched Season 5 on Channel 4.

Apparently, I'd forgotten everything from S1-4. The US version is really an entirely different (and horrible) show. It barely keeps ANYTHING that made the original series good.

Of course, this is a pattern.....

Brisbane, eh? This is a city with one casino and a few hotels and shops that calls itself "Bris-Vegas" I'm sorry her schnitzel was overbreaded.

@Stevied - This happened to my friend Lorraine and I have a copy of the original email she sent them. Too bad there wasn't any room for it in the article above. She was very polite and did not ask for anything. She truly wanted to assist Casa Flamenco in improving their service.

Guess their email response is as good as the service she received!

The restaurant's response, from my point of view, seemed poor only because of the lack of punctuation. I'm guessing from experience that it was written in haste, that they could have responded more politely had they taken a step back, a deep breath, then wrote in response.

On the other hand, if you love botulism...

I'm not jumping to any conclusions without a copy of the original email.

Working in customer service has made me a bit leery of consumerist, on account of they often publish stories without verified facts (that is, consumerist sometimes doesn't verify what people tell them), and even when they have some facts, they will often leave out context so that the only conclusion their readers can draw is that the company in question is 100% malicious in its intentions toward its customers, which is intellectually dishonest.

Sometimes companies act deplorably. Consumers should have a voice, but there should be a stronger dedication to facts before plowing ahead full-steam.

Even if the story is true, they present no evidence and it's a terribly poor way of reporting it. You sort of have to disbelieve it by default.

@vdragonmpc: On the Border is Brinker International (same as Chilis and Romano's) So there was another level of escalation available to you. Also, it is very very rare for food poisioning to show up that quickly unless it was caused by Chemicals (that makes it a bit extra nasty.)

@StevieD: Well, ya know, one would assume a professional establishment would find a better way to handle criticism, of any kind. So no matter what was said & done, nobody deserves that kind of response. The reply was unnecessary & idiotic.

I called a couple of places up there. Tourism and BBB along with the health department. Because I didnt go to the hospital they really couldnt seem to do much. They listened and the health department fellow said something about a note and some other issue over there.

Heck I still have the reciept somewhere. Until then I had NEVER gotten that sick and I pledged a frikkin fraternity in college!

So what free advice did the expert give to the restaurant?

I am sure somewhere in her rant she made a comment that deserved the rebuttal.

That has to be the worst feedback response to ever be written and actually delivered. I'm sure a lot of stuff is said behind the counter/closed doors, but actually send it.

Too bad though that she wasted her time composing an email to only get that back.

Clearly this restaurant took their Customer Service manual straight from Uncle Moe's Family Feedbag.

The BF and I love wings, so it's good to know where not to get ripped off in PG County ;-)

@Caduceus: They probably will be. Idiots and their money part ways very often. And the people who know how to do that by serving crappy food, which no one will say is crappy, because they spent $40 on it, know how to encourage the parting.

@Oregon:

There's devil's advocacy and then there's trolling.

Guess which action you performed, goat-eater?

I'm sending this to him. Good job, idiot restaurant. You just lost more customers/potential customers due to your story showing up on a website halfway across the world and then getting bounced to people in your town.

You should have kept your mouth shut.

@matt: Wow. That was unnecessary.

I'd reply back in the same manner, but atleast use proper grammar.

@Oregon: That does not excuse the response they sent her. It would have been better for them to have not responded at all. Now they're going to be known for calling their customers idiots, admitting they ignore customer feedback, and having crappy grammar.

If they really felt it was necessary to e-mail the customer explaining why they aren't going to use her feedback they could have explained it professionally: Our prices are competitive with similar restaurants, the waiter is already being trained, etc.

@bbbici: Or read Anthony Bourdain's terrific "Kitchen Confidential."

If you've ever watched "ramsey's kitchen nightmares" you may never eat in a restaurant again. At least go around back and try to get a peek in the kitchen, or see how the trash area is maintained-- that will give you an idea of the restaurant's standards.

two: her professional input from being a restaurant marketer? Does she write ads for the newspaper or yellow pages. Haven't seen that job title before.

three: 50% off coupons are normally buy one meal at regular price get the next meal at 50% off. These are rarely for the entire bill. This looks better then it is as most of the time it comes to 20% or so off entire bill.

four: her table could have been rude and over demanding to the point of the restaurant saying hey we don't want nor need customers like you.

It was the small serving size comment that made me wonder if this person was really a professional. Serving size is subjective and has nothing to do with price. Large quantity portions have little to do with quality.
BTW: chicken wings (once a throwaway by product of the chicken industry) now often sell for more per pound then chicken breast meat.

@RRich: BTW, it's Arturo's Ristorante not "Ristoante."

I copied and pasted the (misspelled) name from their website.

LOL!

I have a great restaurant story also. I went to "On The Border" restaurant in Northern Virginia a couple of years ago. I ordered a normal meal as did the wife. I couldnt get a drink refill for begging. Neither could my wife get anything. The salsa had an odd taste to it but oh god the food!!!
**Have you ever had a meal that you couldnt eat? As in your body rejected it at the table? I couldnt eat it after 2 bites. I simply could not eat it I gagged the moment it hit the back of my mouth.**
The waiter was a total jackass and refused to deal with it (after trying for 20 minutes to get some service) I ended up paying for our meal and leaving.

We were 1.5 hours from home. That turned into a 4 hour trip as I was sick all the way home. I dont think we passed a bathroom on the way home. A trooper stopped at the Ashland Exit as I didnt make the exit and was throwing up everywhere on the side of the road. When I got home I couldnt get warm. I was having cold chills all night and was under 2 quilts and an electric blanket. I missed work monday as getting too far from the bathroom was not an option.

I called the restaurant that monday and tried to get them to remove the bill. The manager said he would an that we should expect some 'gift certificate' to arrive. (I make a practice of never EVER returning to a restaurant with bad service under any conditions, this one was nuclear bad)

I waited and called after 30 days. Nothing happened and I told them I would make a point to let it be known what happened.

They truly were awful. Period.

____________

Homer, we need a food critic that doesnt immediately 'poo poo' everything he eats.

Naw, it usually takes me a couple hours.

Oh hell.

I just figured this out.

It's Australia, see? So the remarks go counter-clockwise, or _opposite_ to ours in the northern hemisphere.

So instead of an insult, it was a polite thank you note.

Duh! I just wish we'd all seen this earlier so we wouldn't have wasted our collective ire.

@radleyas:

Lyndsey Nagle: Do I detect a note of sarcasm?

Professor Frink: (With sarcasm detector) Are you kidding? This baby is off the charts, mm-hai.

Comic Book Guy: Oh, a sarcasm detector, that's a _real_ useful invention.

(Sarcasm detector explodes)

----------

Good god, I love that scene. Probably almost as much as I love seeing it played out in web forums.

Hey, what was that explosion?

Had a similar experience many years back before I became fabulously wealthy (in my dreams, anyway).

Wife and I went to swanky place to celebrate our anniversary, taking advantage of a mid-week special.

Food was all right, not awful, but the service was the pits, ranging from hostile to indifferent. Wrote a very polite letter to the owner, who subsequently called me and proceeded to angrilly rip me for daring to complain!

This was many years ago but I make a point of bad-mouthing the joint at every opportunity, and "salute" them whenever I drive by.

Arturo's Ristoante
6750 North Federal Highway
Boca Raton, FL 33487

I wonder if she responded, "no u"?

I had the opposite experience at the WOW Wing Cafe in Bowie,MD recently. The wait staff was bad and the food was over-priced and of mediocre quality, and the beer selection was uninspiring, but when the waitress finally broke the final straw by charging the pitcher price for my single draft beer I compained to the bartender who sent the owner to my table, I was comp'd my meal and original beer AND given a free beer.

I'm still not likely to return there because Buffalo wings shouldn't cost $.80 each PLUS $1.50 for celery and blue cheese, and I like beer that has a taste - but if those things don't concern you, the owner of the WOW in Bowie "get's it".

@DeltaPurser:
I suppose. If you consider "your are" to be well written ...

Restaurants that advertise 50% off the bill or a free entree generally need to do that for a reason. I'm not surprised that she didn't have a satisfactory experience.

dear lorraine,

we wanted to call you an idoit in a run-on sentence.

Well, you know what they say, just because they ARE in business doesn't mean they SHOULD be...

What's the source of this story?

dear lorraine,
we are idiots and would like to tell the internet we suck. thanks, casa whatever

that's a great self-pic, ben.