How to handle a bad meal/aftermath

I ate out recently at a very well know restaurant on the North Shore. The experience was so unpleasant, I would like someone to hear my rant. Is it appropriate to write the owner of a restaurant? How can one ensure the letter will be read and taken seriously? I thought about posting here, but I do not want to be unfair just because I had such unpleasantness one evening in a restaurant of considerable reputation.
Thanks for any advice.

If it was bad enough for you to still harbor bad feelings then by all means, write the owner. Nobody can guarantee how the owner will deal with the issues but if it's a "well known" restaurant then I'd imagine they'd want to hear about a bad experience. I live near a legendary North Shore (-ish) spot that has deteriorated past the point where I'd think a letter with constructive criticism would help.

Assuming that the restaurant has a thread here, it would not be unreasonable for you to post about your experience there. I think it could be helpful to the rest of us.

-Will

WillG wrote:Assuming that the restaurant has a thread here, it would not be unreasonable for you to post about your experience there. I think it could be helpful to the rest of us.

-Will

I agree with this.

Please post your experience.

Absolutely write or call the owner if you need to talk about it. But please share it here as well, you might be surprised by some of the feedback you get here.

jilter wrote:How can one ensure the letter will be read and taken seriously?

For one thing, I would suggest being polite and respectful in the tone of your letter. Don't make it seem like a rant. Simply describe what happened and how you felt about it, without any sarcasm or insults. Also, you might want to write it immediately (while the points you want to make are still fresh in your mind), but wait a few days and then re-read it before mailing it, so that you can edit to remove any over-emotionalism in the wording. (I am NOT saying all of this because of anything personal directed towards you; I am just stating advice in general, based on my own personal experience.) I also would suggest not making any demands or requests (e.g. refunds or compensation); just tell them that you want them to know so they can improve their food/service/etc.

Send it to the restaurant, either via the post office (snail mail) or through the restaurant's e-mail address, which you can probably find on their website. If you know the name of the owner/chef, you can address it to him/her. There's an excellent chance the owner will read it even if you don't address it to him/her personally.

Most restaurants, especially upscale restaurants, will send you a personal reply (i.e. not just a form letter), making specific references to the points you have presented. If they do so, you can assume they are taking your points seriously. They may or may not offer you some sort of incentive to return (if they do, great), and it's up to you whether or not to do so. If you don't hear back from them (or if you only receive something that sounds like a form letter), then IMHO they are not customer-focused and your objections are probably well-justified. (Again IMHO, a problem or issue can arise at just about any restaurant; a true test of their customer focus and responsiveness is how they react when such a problem/issue is brought to their attention.)

Good luck! (And, if you don't mind, it would be interesting to hear whether and how they respond - regardless of whether or not you decide to identify the restaurant at that time.)

In the interest of being "Fair and Balanced" I would first try contacting the restaurant directly, before posting anything online. That way you can post both sides of the story before making a permanent record of your experience. Invariably, a restaurant's defense for negative online reviews, is "the customer never tried to contact us directly". I used to install order-entry and accounting systems in restaurants. As such, I got to see things from both the employees' and management perspectives. I was always shocked at how unaware some managers were of their own employee's behavior and customer interactions (including rampant theft). It may be that the owner was totally unaware of whatever actions pissed you off, and would be grateful for the feedback. If you do or do not receive satisfaction from the owners, you can then post your experiences here for the benefit of our community.

For some reason, Yelp seems to be looked down upon by most of the cool kids, but I think it can be a very valuable tool - precisely for something like this; as an easily-accessible clearinghouse of experiences. I've gotten useful responses from more than one manager/owner to specific issues that I discussed in Yelp posts. Often resulting in return visits and ammended/updated reviews as appropriate.

As a restaurant owner, I agree with the post above about writing a letter to the owner. A personal letter shows a level of importance that is hard to ignore. I would not advise writing an email as they often get lost in one's in box. Yelp is ok but not every restaurant owner takes the time to read the reviews on a regular basis so your complaint may go unanswered. As to posting to this forum about the bad experience, I would wait until you hear back from the owner. If you write a letter and don't get a response or the response is unsatisfactory, then by all means, make your complaint public.

It would be useful to know in what way the experience was so unpleasant.

The food? Undercooked, overseasoned, burnt, raw, overpriced, flavorless ... ?

The service? Overbearing, rude, inept, indifferent, absent ... ?

There are lots of ways to describe the problem(s) without giving away the name of the restaurant. That would make it easier to give appropriate advice.

I have been a restaurant manager in this city, at some very well known and well liked spots, for years, and we all make mistakes from time to time! I wholeheartedly encourage you to share your negative experience with the restaurant. In fact, please do not hesitate to do so.

I always tell our guests who are less than pleased THANK YOU, this is how we grow, taking the good with the bad. As a manager if all I ever hear is "everything was great," I am missing out on the opportunity to learn and grow and in turn, grow my team.

If a guest is unhappy and they've already left us, there is nothing we can do to rectify the experience. Believe me--when we get to a certain level of professionalism, nothing is more upsetting to us than to think there was a problem and we never had the opportunity to address it.

With my staff, I share complaint letters when appropriate in pre-shift meetings (same as I share compliments and kudos), and we talk about what went wrong and how we can avoid the same missteps next time. We look for patterns, if one server seems to get a lot of complaints, we dig deeper. If one hostess seems to put everyone off their feed, we dig deeper. If one busser seems too overbearing, we dig deeper. The guests feedback is of utmost importance to us. I can't emphasize enough that this is how we up our game and constantly raise the bar.

That being said, most restaurant staff are acutely aware if there is a problem with a guest before it gets to this point. Or they should be!

I would recommend perhaps writing a Yelp review coupled with a letter--either snail mailed to management or via the general inbox link on the website--and then amending your review if and when you receive an adequate response. And if you don't receive an adequate response, I'd think twice before dining there again!

But yes: please write to the restaurant and let them know of your experience. For many of us at a certain level, this is our career which we take very seriously. Your feedback, whether positive or negative, is a tool for growth.