Turning Lemons into Lemon Drops at House Kitchen & Bar
June 22, 2010
I don't usually write about my experiences at restaurants, but I wanted to highlight a recent experience I had at House Kitchen & Bar.
I work on Capitol Mall. A couple weeks back, I went with some of my coworkers to House Kitchen & Bar for a going away lunch for someone who works in my department.
When we got there, the restaurant was hopping. Every table was full. It was a vibrant lunch crowd.
We sat down, ordered at 12:35 and at 1 p.m., we still hadn't received our food. We also didn't get any bread or anything to munch on during the wait. Rest assured -- watches were checked and we stared longingly at those who were lucky enough to get their meals.
At about 1:10 p.m., we got our food -- 35 minutes after we ordered it. I'll admit that I don't have the kind of job where I have to be back to work at a specific time, but we're all busy at work and we don't have time to sit around in the middle of the day.
We all scarfed down our food -- who isn't hungry if they haven't eaten lunch by 1:15 -- all of which was tasty. Among the entrees our group of six had were the steak sandwich and pulled pork sandwich. I'm a huge fan of the steak sandwich.
But we couldn't get over how long we had to wait. The service by the waiter wasn't bad, but the kitchen was just too slow. We didn't finish eating until 1:30, nearly an hour after we arrived.
This is the part where the lemons were turned into lemon drops. As the table busser cleared our last plate away, the waiter came over and apologized for the speed of the kitchen (or lack thereof). He told us that they were taking two entrees off our bill and offered us a dessert to share.
We didn't complain to them (yet). We didn't make a scene. I didn't tell them that I ran a happy hour Web site. But they realized that they did not provide the experience they wanted to and wanted to make it right.
We went from totally unsatisfied to willing to give them another chance next time our office goes out for lunch.
Is there a restaurant that went out of their way to right something they did wrong? Let us know in the comments below.
not enough. i have a list as long as my arm of ones that don't give a damn and who have forever lost customers for it though!
Posted by: teala | June 23, 2010 at 09:45 AM