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Worst restaurant service ever
By adamg on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 8:26am
Ari Herzog reminds us why it's a good thing we're usually asleep at 2:30 a.m. instead of trying to get something to eat at the Apollo restaurant in Chinatown:
... About TWO HOURS AFTER entering the place, and telling the kitchen to stop the teriyaki dish, we want to leave. We can't. We have a bill for $32. That was after taking the teriyaki dish off the bill. Why should we pay for food that arrived OVER AN HOUR LATE due to waiter forgetfulness and then bringing out the wrong teriyaki dish? Back and forth with the manager, yelling match ensues, we refuse to pay the bill but they won't let us out without paying.
Did I mention the large-framed bouncer at the door? ...
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Comments
Call the cops
It's not always the restaurant's prerogative to call the cops when there's a dispute like this. They could be hit with false imprisonment if they are keeping you from freely leaving their establishment over a disputed bill instead of calling the cops themselves.
However, I don't care how late the food arrives or how bad the service was, if you don't agree to any bill corrections a priori and eat the food anyways, then pay your bill. It's not a hard concept. It might be harder to comprehend if you're too drunk to know not to order Kung Pao Shrimp from a Korean restaurant however.
Who says they were too drunk
Who says they were too drunk to tell the difference? Maybe they just do not know the differences between Korean food and Chinese food.
His own words
It would appear they didn't even look at the menu, gave a little "Yo, you got Kung Pao Shrimp?", and expected to get the closest thing they had. When they got told off it was like "yeah, whatever, we knew that, just gimme a spicy shrimp dish".
It's the same false sense of entitlement that would make you think you could eat their food and then walk out the door without paying anything.
I don't read "asked for
I don't read "asked for something like Kung Pao shrimp" as "Yo, you got Kung Pao Shrimp?"
The waiter did
According to this guy's own words, the other party to the conversation (the waiter) seemed to have taken as such.
I certainly wouldn't read it as "I am quite aware of the differences between Chinese and Korean cuisine, and knowing that you are a Korean establishment, I was hoping you might suggest an analogous dish to Kung Pao Shrimp. What is important to us is that we maintain the shrimp and spicy nature of the food while still being of Korean origin. I have fully perused the menu and am unable to ascertain the exact example of what I'm looking for within it. Might you have any suggestions?"
So what if they wanted
So what if they wanted something that was Chinese from a Korean food place, I have a cousin who orders french fries from a Chinese food place. Last I check those were not Chinese.
The waiter could have said "hey listen my chefs do not know how to cook that, it is a Chinese dish and we are a Korean place, why not try the XYZ instead it is very popular."
Astounding
That's astounding logic. You have completely convinced me based on your ordering-french-fries-from-a-Chinese-restaurant-that-serves-french-fries anecdotal analogy. That's *exactly* what happened here. It's so clear now.
What false sense of
What false sense of entitlement? Is everybody now supposed to know all about korean cuisine and what food is available? Youve never looked at a menu before and asked the waiter if they could make a change? I think it logical to see that the menu has shrimp, the menu has spicy, could you do that please? The only false sense of entitlement here appears to be coming from you.
Quite clear
You can't get Chinese food in a Korean restaurant. In fact, depending on the Korean, you might even have just deeply insulted them by suggesting it.
In fact, I'm not even sure he looked at the menu given that there's a dish (Kang Poong Sae Woo) on it that's described as "shrimp in spicy sauce". He didn't say "can we get an appetizer like Kang Poong Sae Woo" he said "...Kung Pao Shrimp".
That's the kind of entitlement I'm talking about. Now, what entitlement do you think I've got again? The one about giving my opinion on the matter? Yeah, that's sorta what this space is reserved for.
Not necessarily true
In many Korean restaurants (in this part of the world) one can find at least some foods from other parts of East Asia -- more often Japan but sometimes Chinese items (especially if the restaurant's owners and/or staff is actually Chinese -- which is sometimes the case).
false sense of entitlement
If a sense of entitlement is expecting more than is reasonably offered, as a result of having an inflated sense of self-worth and position, then what is a false sense of entitlement?
Different definition
I'd say a healthy sense of entitlement is one a customer would have to getting their food in a reasonable amount of time or having the bill adjusted if there are problems in doing so. Getting the teriyaki dish they ordered taken off of the bill is a valid sense of entitlement.
Eating the rest of the food that was served and THEN expecting to walk out the door without paying anything, however, is a false sense of entitlement. Asking for "something like a cheeseburger" at Olive Garden (what? they got meatballs and rolls don't they?") is also a false sense of entitlement.
reasonable expectations
I see. You're talking about reasonable expectations. Entitlement, false or otherwise, is "the right to have something."
Please provide, in plain
Please provide, in plain ASCII text, multiple synonyms for expectations and/or entitlement.
Def #2
"Something that one is entitled to (or believes that one is entitled to)".
He believed he was entitled to food service in under an hour (fair enough). He believed he was entitled to leave without paying after eating food (false).
kaz, you ever been to apollo?
"You can't get Chinese food in a Korean restaurant. In fact, depending on the Korean, you might even have just deeply insulted them by suggesting it."
apollo serves sushi as well as korean food. so they shouldn't be offended by asking about chinese dishes.
With that kind of attitude,
With that kind of attitude, that late at night, they were lucky not to be taken down into the basement and made into the next night's mystery platter.